The Chimera City: Central HQ
by The Rose Blue Prince
Summary: Edward Elric is not having a good day. First he gets called short by a little girl, and then he gets ambushed and kidnapped by a group of thugs with a baseball bat fetish. Where is he being taken? He has no idea—all he knows is that things are most likely not going to end well for him. But, then again, when do they ever? [Featuring Chimera!Ed and Parental!RoyEd.]
1. Chapter I: The Trend

**A/N: **Alright, so here's the first chapter of my very first full-length Fullmetal Alchemist FanFiction. *Roy Mustang lets loose a blast of fire and explodes some awesome pyrotechnics and fireworks in the background* I gotta say, I'm pretty excited about it (even when I've got about a hundred other things to do as well, including the dreaded end of semester finals that are coming up *shudder*), and I hope that all of you readers will join me on the most likely interesting journey that is_ The Chimera City: Central HQ._

As for the origins of this story? Well, basically, I felt like writing a chimera fic for FMA (there are [sadly] so few out there) so I asked Flue for a prompt and she replied with this; "Chimeraism is a trend that is becoming increasingly popular in Amestris." ...Or at least something like that (I can't find the message with it in it), and, voila, this was born from deep within the depths of my twisted imagination.

Whether or not you should be scared by that latter statement is up to you (my imagination can get a little... crazy sometimes... heh...).

Now, without further ado, let's suit up, strap in, and get this show on the road, shall we?

* * *

**The Chimera City: Central HQ**

******Chapter I: The Trend**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

A Fullmetal Alchemist FanFiction By: The Rose Blue Prince

* * *

In all honesty, Ed wasn't quite sure what was going on. Having just arrived back in Central yesterday—and looking like they had walked straight out of a horror novel—he and Al had both been pretty emotionally wiped. It was yet another pointless, wild-goose-chase type mission that the Elric brothers had had the misfortune to be assigned to, courtesy of one overly smug Colonel Mustang.

And so, like a good little soldier, the blond had grudgingly gotten on a train and left to complete his newest assignment, Alphonse in tow.

After completing said mission, both brothers had hopped back on a train to Central, the whole thing having taken less than a day in total minus travel time. Ed had fumed about how worthless it had all been, disheartened and more than a little upset over the turnout.

There was no stone. There were no leads. There was no information. All in all, the mission could be classified as an extreme waste of time in Ed's book. Add this failure with all of the others that he'd completed recently and it wasn't looking too good for him and Al in terms of returning their bodies back to normal.

So, with all of the collective dead ends he had run into lately, it only made sense that the young alchemist hadn't just merely been 'upset' because, no, he hadn't upset.

That description of what he had been feeling, meager and inadequate as it was, didn't even _begin_ to cut it.

He had been _burning _with a rage that could quite possibly rival the heat of Mustang's alchemic flames. In fact, the blond had been so disappointed and upset over the less-than-stellar turnout that he had punched numerous walls with his metal—and nonmetal—hand in the dorm that he and his younger brother were currently staying in. Al had met this violent behavior with much chagrin, claiming that damaging military-owned property was frowned upon, but had ultimately been unable to stop Ed from throwing his frustrated punches.

(However, Alphonse _was_ glad that he wasn't hurting an actual person, and instead was just beating up an inanimate wall.)

Though, it was true that that very same rage that fueled the blond's angry punches had managed to start to simmer down a bit today, his boiling temper cooling. This was mostly caused by a good night's sleep and some vegetable stew, the latter courtesy of one very kind and gracious Mrs. Hughes while the former was simply because the beds in the dorm the Elrics were currently staying in were unusually soft and comfortable.

But, despite his slightly better mood and added boost of a full night's sleep, Ed still wasn't really sure whether what he was currently witnessing was real or not. Certainly this had to be a dream; there just couldn't be any other explanation than that.

...Right?

The fifteen year old didn't have an answer for that particular question at this time, but that certainly didn't mean that he wasn't going to go out and find one out for himself.

As Ed stared out the window in bewilderment, the source of his confusion was made obvious by the fact that an entire _street full_ of clearly visible _human chimeras_ wandered around the city below.

Now, the child prodigy that he was, Edward knew that that wasn't normal in the slightest, nor were any kind of chimeras just waltzing around in broad daylight considered at all legal. Also, with the sheer amount of chimeras that were meandering about, he knew that they all couldn't possibly have managed to stay under the military's radar, especially considering that this city was the bustling heart of all military business in Amestris.

So, the question now was how, exactly, these hybrid _things _had managed to get away with leisurely strolling around the streets of Central. Certainly the people in charge at Headquarters were either moving troops out right now to take control of the situation or they were aware of the chimera invasion and were currently working out a solution, right?

Again, the young State Alchemist wasn't so sure. Who knew how stable and reliable the military was with people like Colonel Bastard running around the place...

But, then again, perhaps that pompous jerk could be of some use in a crazy situation like this. He wasn't called the Flame Alchemist for nothing, after all.

Shrugging off the almost-compliment to his superior, Ed decided that he probably shouldn't just stand there and gawk at the bizarre scene unfolding below him. Getting a move on and gathering information about what was going on seemed to be the best option, and so he made to do just that.

Eyes lingering a bit as he walked away from the window, the fifteen year old grabbed his red cloak and pulled it on while simultaneously scrawling a note to his brother on a scrap piece of paper he had found in his pocket with an old ballpoint pen. Nodding at his work_—_despite how barely legible his handwriting was_—_the alchemist then proceeded to leave the dorm room.

Ed took one last look at the humble, barely furnished space before shutting the door with his signature roughness and heading down the stairs, which now seemed ridiculously long in his haste to start solving this strange puzzle.

Practically jumping down the last few steps, Edward paused and looked around the apartment building's lobby for a moment. After finding no one there, he mentally added another thing to his growing list of strange occurrences—normally in a place like this there was at least one guard to keep things in check and make sure that things like suspicious people entering the building didn't happen.

Without hesitation, Ed crossed the remaining distance separating him from the doors that led outside and promptly pushed them open, stepping out onto the small collection of steps leading up to the housing complex as he did.

Now that he was outside, Ed was able to fully grasp the enormity of the what he was currently deeming 'a major problem/breach of security'. As he stood staring out at the street in front of him, the alchemist realized that _every single person _that walked by him appeared to be a chimera of some sort. Oddly enough, though, none of them were tearing each other's throats out or viciously attacking an innocent bystander. They almost seemed... human.

But who knew how long that would last.

Ed's mind then went into problem solving mode, much like it did when he was researching something or thrust into a life or death situation, though the latter was normally used at a much more rapid and frenzied pace.

It was needless to say that the blond needed to get to the bottom of this, find a solution, and resolve the problem before anyone got hurt.

So, with that decision set firmly in his mind, Ed left the steps of the dorm and headed out into the street, thoroughly determined to find some answers to what was shaping up to be a rather large mess.

* * *

Meanwhile, Alphonse was out shopping for some groceries to satisfy his older brother's most likely ravenous hunger once he woke up. The train ride to get back to Central had been long this time around (three days to be exact), and the younger Elric didn't want his older brother to resort to gnawing on his boot from starvation.

(Al was actually fairly certain that the blond would do that, too, if his stomach yelled at him loudly enough to hurry up and feed it.)

With that thought in mind, the animated suit of armor continued to browse the fruit stall he was currently standing in front of, wondering whether or not he should get any of the fruits the vendor was selling. But right as he was just about to reach for a particularly shiny red apple, the woman who Al assumed was the owner of the fruit stand spoke up, looking at him with an expression that quite honestly creeped the fourteen year old out a little.

"So, what's a big, strong man like you doing at my humble fruit stand, hmm?"

The woman's large, brown eyes (currently looking a bit flirtatious in an attempt to get Alphonse to buy something, though the boy was too focused on something else at the moment to notice) were now staring at him, her cinnamon hair curled into big spirals that framed her sharp face. But Al wasn't really paying attention to any of that right now. One detail about the woman stood out more than anything, and that was the small fact that her eyes had _slits for pupils._

Being the cat lover that he was, the boy didn't doubt for a second that those eyes were feline, and when he saw a long brown tail swish to and fro behind the lady, his next thought was even more reasonable.

_Chimera._

There was no mistaking it, and as Al's soul fire eyes looked up he saw a pair of furry, light brown ears sitting atop the woman's head he knew that it had to be true.

_How had he not noticed that before...?_

True, that is, unless she had somehow managed to make a really amazing cat costume. Then again, that wouldn't exactly make any sense, and the fact that the tail looked like it was moving of its own accord kind of killed that possibility.

Leaning over the collection of colorful produce that were being sold in the cart, the woman's slitted eyes flashed briefly. Then, speaking in that same suggestive tone that she had used earlier, her smooth voice now sounding close to a purr, she asked, "How's about it, you gonna buy something or just stand there starin' at me all day?"

Al, being the kindhearted soul that he was, was currently in quite a fix. His metal body was practical twitching with the need to shift into a much-practiced battle stance, but, the opposing argument to the whole _'this lady is a dangerous, mutant product of a twisted kind of alchemy',_ was the fact that she was just that; a lady.

And, at present, she didn't seem to be doing anything particularly malicious or violent, so Al didn't really see a need to go off the handle and choose the rash decision of attacking a potentially innocent civilian like his hot-tempered older brother would most likely do.

Deciding to be rational and at least attempt to be open-minded toward what could possibly be a bloodthirsty, half-feline killer, Alphonse replied to the woman's earlier statement by pointing his armored hand at what appeared to be an especially plump apple and saying, "I'll take that one, please."

The shop keeper's face split into a wide smile at the armored boy's words, clearly pleased that he was going to be purchasing something after all. At the same time, Alphonse couldn't help but notice that her teeth looked a little bit too sharp to be normal.

After handing over the sum required to buy the fruit, Al then asked with a fake nonchalance meant to cover up the awkwardness he felt at asking the question, "So, um, where'd you get those... ears?"

Not noticing the boy's slight hesitation as he asked the question, the chimera smiled brightly, her previous sly saleswoman demeanor falling away into a something that vaguely resembled what a child in a candy store might look like. Looking up at her ears with a fond expression, she said, "You like 'em? I heard they were a new fashion statement that's sweeping through Central like the plague!"

Al sweat dropped at her strange comparison before the chimera continued, enthusiasm still dripping from her voice, "That's not even the best part though," the fourteen year old leaned forward slightly in anticipation, "The best part is the fact that the transformation operation was nearly free! Not even twenty-five cenz!" She laughed for a moment, a fanged smile still on her face, "It was painless too, in fact, I can't even remember anything at all during the operation..."

A small frown replaced the jovial smile for a moment before she shrugged off the potentially worrisome latter statement, seemingly happy about sharing her story with Alphonse once again, "But, anyways, other than the cheapness of it, I keep getting compliments! 'Cause, seriously, who wouldn't think these things are adorable?"

If Al could've raised an eyebrow he would have, but consider that he was a suit of metal armor and subsequently had no eyebrows to raise, his expression_—_unsurprisingly_—_didn't change at all in reaction to the woman's last sentence.

Watching as the lady pawed at the fuzzy ear on top of her head (the action which, admittedly, did look a little cute), Al said, more to himself than the woman, "But why would you want to do that to yourself? Chimeras... they're always described as malformed and horrifying creatures in the alchemy books Brother and I read..."

Now that he said that, Al couldn't help but feel a strange, dark vibe coming off the woman, even though she was still smiling brightly with that lopsided, fanged grin of hers.

Shuddering slightly, Al took a step back, bowed and thanked the woman for the apple, and then dashed off in the direction of the dorms. The fourteen year old was now hoping to wake up Ed and tell him about what the lady had said about chimeras becoming a 'trending fashion' in Amestris.

(How troubling that was...)

However, just before Alphonse was out of earshot from the woman at the fruit stand, he heard her call one last thing, "Thanks for comin' by today and listening to my gossip, I hope you come back so we can chat again sometime!"

Al could sense rather than feel the unearthly chill that had surrounded the chimera follow him as he headed back to the dorm he and Ed were currently lodging in, wondering how something that he had always believed to be a forsaken creation of a dark and forbidden alchemy could be so... human sounding.

He didn't even notice all the other human chimeras that were roaming the streets of Central cast his armor curious glances, too focused in his haste to find his brother to sense the feeling of wrongness that hung in the air.

* * *

Edward Elric was currently staring down at the chubby, rosy-cheeked face of a six year old girl. She had appeared to be normal at first, but Ed knew something was up when he saw the tips of chocolate-brown bunny ears poking out of her short black hair.

Originally, the blond had ended up accidentally running into her, and at first he hadn't noticed the fact that she was a chimera. Once Ed did, though, he had felt a burning, seething anger fill his chest at the sight of her (the anger he felt wasn't technically directed at her, of course, but at whoever the sick bastard was that had done this to a little girl), and began questioning her about why she was like that.

However, things had gone awry very quickly. Now they were both causing a scene in the middle of a crowded sidewalk somewhere near the center of Central's largest (and busiest) market place.

Honestly, if Ed had really wanted to find an answer to his question of why most of the population had appeared to have been chimera-fied over the course of one night, he should have chose a more quiet, subtle location to question people.

...But then again, this _is_ Edward Elric, and to him the word 'quiet' is quite the fanciful concept.

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING SUCH A MINUSCULE RUNT THAT'S SO MINIATURE THEY HAVE TO LIVE IN A DOLLHOUSE JUST SO THEY CAN REACH THE DOORKNOBS ON THE TINY DOORS?!"

The girl stuck her tongue out at the alchemist, eyes narrowing as she said, "I never said that, mister! You're just a meanie who don't understand my sitchi... situ... sitcha..." Her face then screwed up, unsure of how to pronounce the word she was thinking of.

Ed calmed down, if only by a little bit, before sighing and muttering, "'Situation'."

Looking up at Ed through unnatural pink eyes, she uttered a quiet, "...Thanks."

Sighing again now that most of the anger-fueled steam from being called short by a kid who was barely half his height had dissipated, Ed pinched the bridge of his nose, running through what had happened since he left the dorm this morning.

_After walking out onto the street, Ed headed for a man that appeared, for the moment at least, to be one-hundred percent human. Though, as the short alchemist soon found out, the man was not as he appeared, and right before he managed to get within three feet of the guy his internal radar started going crazy._

_Chimera. _

_That's what he was getting from the creepy, black feeling that surrounded the guy, anyway. In no way did he know that for sure however, especially considering how Ed hadn't physically seen anything out of the ordinary. But that didn't really mean much, especially with that creepy vibe he was beginning to feel, making his skin crawl and his heart freeze. And, after being in the militarily for the better part of three years, the alchemist knew to trust his instincts when they were going crazy, and that motion was only seconded by when the guy turned around, revealing a pair of reptilian green eyes and skin that had a slightly scaly look to it._

_Turning on his heel, Edward started heading in the opposite direction of the man. Being this close to him (and not to mention all of the other chimeras on the street as well) Ed was beginning to feel... bad, for lack of a better word._

_The feeling was similar to when he and Alphonse had met the Nina-Alexander chimera, but it was so much worse now. It was almost as if he was having tons of nasty-tasting hard candies shoved down his throat while walking through a blizzard in nothing but his boxers._

_To put it as simply as he could; it was anything but pleasant to be in such close range with this many chimeras. In fact, it almost made the alchemist feel like he would get a splitting headache from all of the wrongness that was looming ominously over the street._

_At that moment, Edward knew one thing for sure; chimeras were certainly not natural in any sense of the word, nor did they bode well with alchemists._

_Shaking his head a bit to try and rid himself of the bad vibes oozing off of the spliced beings around him, Ed walked on, despite the slight disorientation he was beginning to feel due to the oncoming headache._

_Suddenly a little girl with dark black hair darted out into the street, and, not having noticed Ed, slammed straight into the alchemist. The collision didn't necessarily hurt the blond, but he was certainly surprised by the speed at which she hit him; the girl had only appeared to be a blur that had flashed in the corner of his eye before suddenly smashing into him.  
_

_Needless to say, both Ed and the little girl fell backwards, landing roughly on the hard ground of the street. Despite this, no one took any notice, save for a few half-curious, half-annoyed glances from the passersby being directed at the two kids currently acting as obstacles that their uncaring feet shuffled around._

_"YOUCH! Hey mister, that hurt!" the girl exclaimed, sending a glare that Ed thought was supposed to be menacing, but only turned out looking cute on her rosy, six year old face._

_In response, Edward simply stood up and brushed some dirt off his coat, muttering, "Hey, you were the one that ran into me..."_

_The girl, still on the ground, stuck out her lower lip, pouting. Apparently, Ed's words of truth did not please her. "But... you got in my way..."_

_Swallowing down his snappy retort, the likes of which was already about to fly from his lips, Ed extended a gloved hand down to her when he realized that she was just a little kid (not to mention shorter than him__—most everyone that was shorter than Ed got on his good side)_. Looking at the hand in apprehension for a moment, the girl lost her pout, taking the hand and pulling herself up. She mumbled a quiet thank you, looking the young alchemist in the eye. It was then that Ed noticed.

_Her eyes were a light, whitish-pink. _

_Ed had seen red eyes before on Ishbalans like Scar but, despite the fact that they never got any less creepy or unsettling, he was pretty sure that this kid wasn't an Ishbalan with an eye mutation._

_His reasoning? The short, stubby bunny ears that protruded from beneath her dark hair._

_Ed wondered for a moment how he hadn't noticed those sooner before it hit him again; that same awful feeling he had felt earlier (and had just previously been feeling a watered down version of) hit him full force again in the presence of the human-bunny chimera._

_Wrenching his hand out of hers as if burned, he took a few steps back, beginning to feel a renewed wave of dizziness come over him. In all of his researching about alchemy and the few times he had come across the topic of chimeras, he had never read anything about chimeras affecting alchemists like this._

_It was just... unnatural._

_The girl, confused as to why Ed had ripped his hand away from hers and backed away from her, asked, "Hey, you okay, mister?"_

_Feeling a blossoming of rage at the fact that some sick bastard had done this to a little girl, Ed growled out, "Who did this to you?"_

And now here they were, awkwardly standing in the street, Ed's only answer to his previous question being 'my parents thought it would make me look cute' coming from the clueless girl's mouth. She didn't even know the magnitude of what she had become...

Sickened beyond belief, Ed had asked why, only to be answered with, "'Cause it's trendy, mister."

A short comment and a few minutes of internal reflecting on the alchemist's part later, the fifteen year old realized that he was still missing a few major pieces of this whole chimera-trend puzzle. Who was turning the good people of Central into these monsters? And why were they doing it?

Ed was about to ask the bunny chimera if she'd known who had done this to her but, to his surprise, when he looked to the spot where she had been standing just previous, she was gone. In fact, the entire street seemed to be empty, no people bustling around in the mid-morning rush to get various places in sight.

A bad feeling (an entirely different one from the feeling the chimeras gave off) was beginning to rise in Ed's stomach. Something was wrong here, something terribly wrong, he just knew it. Tensing up and sending glances down the deserted street, the blond slowly shifted into a fighting position.

His actions were for naught, however, when what felt like a metal bat smashed into the back of his head. The young alchemist, having been already thrown a bit off-kilter from both the headache and the dizzy spell, crumpled to the ground in a dazed heap.

_Damn, he let them sneak up on him...!_

He managed to hear one last thing before sinking into unconsciousness, the speaker's voice sounding rough and unfriendly in his now ringing ears.

"Ah, if it isn't the Fullmetal Alchemist. Didn't I tell ya boys? I knew we'd bring in quite the catch today..." A sneer entered the man's voice as he finished his thought with the foreboding string of words, "The boss'll sure be glad to change you..."

* * *

**A/N #2: **Whoa. This was not meant to be this long originally. It just... kept coming. But, as Flue would say, I think that this is worthy of a sweeyah anyways. So, SWEEYAH. XD

Eh hem... anyways, just so you all know, I still haven't planned all of this out... I have a bad habit of doing that with my stories for some reason. But, fear not! I assure you that it will be all planned out soon. *Makes a determined face*

Thanks for reading, comments are thoroughly appreciated. :'3


	2. Chapter II: The Boss

**A/N: **Hey people! I'm back with chapter two! That's exciting, right? *Crickets chirp loudly in the background* ...Well, I'm excited at least. xP

Before we begin, I'd like to give a shout out to the five wonderful people that reviewed the first chapter: _Fluehatraya, Yiriiyu, Feyfangirl, VampireFrootloopsrule, _and _smallvillephantom14_! Thanks a lot guys!

* * *

**The Chimera City: Central HQ**

**Chapter II: The Boss**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

A Fullmetal Alchemist FanFiction By: The Rose Blue Prince

* * *

Ed was just beginning to realize how much being both ambushed and then violently whacked in the back of the head sucked. In fact, he may have even had an epiphany.

Because, he realized, not only did having a metal bat smashed into your skull hurt like hell, but it also left behind quite a painful headache as a repercussion. At least, that's where the blond thought the headache was from. After all, what else could cause someone that was hardly conscious to feel as if they were about to throw up the entire nonexistent contents of their churning stomach? Add this to the fact that a jackhammer with a vendetta was currently trying to splinter the fifteen year old's skull into a million tiny pieces, and he was feeling pretty crappy over all.

However, despite the fact that he was acutely aware of all the pain he was currently in, Ed didn't really understand how he was even conscious in the first place. He was feeling really, really horrid and, with all due respect to his incredible tolerance for pain, it just shouldn't have been possible.

(It hurt so damn much...)

In truth, though, maybe 'conscious' wasn't really the correct term. After all, he wasn't exactly able to stay aware for more than about twenty seconds at a time, and so the alchemist was barely following the disconnected snippets of conversation he was currently hearing ring throughout his muddled mind.

_"Hey, get over here. Pick up the blondie so we can leave and collect our pay from the boss already..."_

Distantly Ed felt himself being hoisted onto a rather large and firm shoulder.

_"Oi! We're done here, let's leave before the chimera freaks start flowing into the street again..."_

The man whose shoulder Ed was currently slung over started walking, presumably away from the street where the blond had just been talking to the little bunny-hybrid.

(Now he'd never get to complete questioning her...)

_"How's about a party celebrating the disposal of another pesky State Alchemist after we turn this kid over to the boss? Drinks on me!"_

Now Ed may have been just barely awake at the time, but in his current situation he sure thought that _that _couldn't mean anything good for "the pesky State Alchemist", which he currently had the misfortune of being.

Feeling the black, thread-like hands of unconsciousness begin to pull at him, Edward struggled to shake them off and stay awake. Out of sheer willpower he succeeded, if only for the moment.

Then the fifteen year old strained his ears to pick up anymore possibly helpful information in regards to where his apparent attackers turned kidnappers were taking him.

All the blond managed to catch before an immeasurable silence was a muttered statement of half-pity from one of the goons that had aided in his attack, _"May Gate have mercy on your soul, kid. You're gonna need it considerin' the place we're takin' ya to."_

Feeling an even worse feeling collect in the pit of his stomach, Ed tried to move his leaden limbs in a desperate attempt to get the hell away from these people, but was ultimately unable to do so. In the wake of that failure, the short alchemist remained in his limp state as his head throbbed quietly, acting as a pulsing background music for the tangible feeling of doom that hung in the air.

As he finally began to lose the fight against the darkness and fall into an even deeper state of unconsciousness, Ed had one last, depressing, thought.

This was most certainly not going to end well for him.

But, then again, when did things ever?

* * *

The gang that had ambushed, attacked, and were now in the process of kidnapping Edward Elric to deliver to their boss, made their way down the seemingly endless maze of some of Central's more crime-prone district's alleys, making their way toward the location where they would drop of the kid and collect their pay.

All in all, it had been a relatively easy job for the gang; locate the Fullmetal Alchemist, track him down, and then capture him. Plain, simple, and painless... well it was for them, at least.

The only possible thing that could have been considered a complication in the mission was Ed's size. Being as small as he was, the gang ended up losing him in the crowd a few times, and while that was annoying, they nevertheless found him again, and therefore resumed their assignment.

The only thing that the gang didn't really understand was why the boss wanted someone like Edward in the first place. Sure, he was technically a "dog of the military", and while those kinds of guys were murdering bastards in the gang's book, they didn't really see the reason why Ed was so important.

He was just a kid, right? A kid with too much power and responsibility, considering how he was in the military and all, but that didn't really say much considering the current condition of the country. Everyone had to grow up fast in these times, whether they wanted to or not.

But, as long as they got paid, the gang really couldn't care less, despite the fact that their target this time around was a little kid.

Still, though, they couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen to the runt once they handed him over to the boss. Considering the gossip they'd heard about what happened to their other targets...

Well, Gate help the Fullmetal Alchemist if _that _was what the boss wanted him for.

Turning perhaps the hundredth dark corner they had turned down since abducting Ed, an uneasy feeling began to loom over the gang. They were close to the drop off point now.

The sound of worn boots hitting the brick-laid alley and splashing in shallow puddles echoed off the walls that were painted with sloppy graffiti art.

One of the gang's various hoodlums, this one standing just behind the burly man that had Ed slung over his shoulder, said, "'S a shame a kid as young as he had to go and put a leash around his neck, eh?"

There was a brief pause before the man holding Ed replied in a deep baritone, "'Course it is," the man paused before glancing at the blonde alchemist, then continued on with his previous thought, "It was probably his choice though, so there had to be some reason for it."

In response to that, the one who had spoken earlier replied ominously, "But what if it wasn't?"

At that, every member of the gang turned their heads to glance curiously at the unconscious blonde alchemist, thinking about the hoodlum's intriguing possibility.

Though, before anyone could delve very far into the subject matter, the baritone replied again in a frank tone that leaved no room for argument, "Then the blasted government is even more corrupted than we all thought."

No one had an answer to that, so the gang spent the remaining few minutes sneaking through the shadows of alleys in silence.

Though, when the shifty gang had finally reached their destination, they felt something akin to relief at not having to worry about the Fullmetal Alchemist anymore, albeit they did feel some guilt at willingly handing over a child (no matter how powerful) over to the boss. The moment the burly man handed the still unconscious Ed to the boss, the kid's fate was sealed.

He was going to be used for sick, twisted experiments. He was going to be subjected to the worst hell science had to offer. He was, most likely, going to become one of the damned very soon.

In all honesty, none of the members of the gang would wish that fate on anyone.

But, again, it was no longer their problem, and they weren't being paid anymore to deal with Ed anymore anyway, so they more or less ignored the collective feeling of sickness that was pooling in their stomachs.

It, however, was impossible for the group not to take one last look back as the boss carried Ed into a large, foreboding brick building before scurrying away, vowing never to look back again as one of their targets was taken through the doors of the large building.

That was just simply not possible, though. The gang ended up looking back every single time, unable to shake the feeling of damnation that the unforgiving brick building radiated. It didn't make them feel any better that they all knew; deep down, that they were all equally responsible for their target's fates.

And yet, as always, they did nothing to stop the inevitable as they slunk through Central's shadows, already beginning their next mission.

* * *

The boss carried Edward inside the building, humming a tune that sounded quite creepy coming from a man such as himself as it bounced off the walls and high ceiling of the room he was in. His steps echoed around the nearly empty space of the front room of the brick building, the likes of which was only filled by a few miscellaneous boxes and the occasional scrap of dirty paper laying strewn across the dusty floor.

The man continued to walk through the spacious room before he came to a door on the opposite side of the one he had originally entered, and he pushed it open, entering a new, smaller room. Not even pausing in his trek, the man then absently closed the door behind him before walking across the length of the smaller room before coming to the wall opposite the door.

Examining the seemingly bare stone wall for a moment, the man then placed his hand against the wall's smooth surface and, while one might expect nothing to happen, the stone gave a little under the pressure before sliding back with a loud rumbling noise, revealing a secret stairway.

Making sure that Ed was still securely in his hold, the boss then trod purposefully down the dirt and dust covered brick steps, the hidden door sliding back into place behind him. Now in complete darkness, the boss, with practiced movements, continued to walk down the steps until he reached the bottom.

Now at the bottom of the staircase, the man then flipped a previously invisible light switch into the 'on' position, revealing the secret room that he and Edward were now in with the series of rectangular ceiling lights that flicked on in response, their dim lights pushing back the shadows that had previously plagued the room into the far corners.

The room was an overall large space. It was, in fact, much larger than the front room of the building that the boss had originally entered, and, etched with much onus and a lot of tedious motions, a complex transmutation circle was draw on the cold grey floor. The purpose of the aforementioned circle shall be divulged soon to the unknowing alchemist that lay limp in the boss's grasp.

Along with the white, chalk drawn circle, there was also a large assortment of worktables placed randomly along the outside of the circle, the likes of which had varying amount of things on them; some were cluttered with papers and test tubes filled with questionable substances (some of the previously mentioned substances were glowing dimly, casting an eerie glow on all that it touched), while others were empty or just simply had a few pens or pencils scattered across their wooden tops.

The last notable things currently in the room were a few ancient-looking alchemy tomes that were laying both around the circle and on some of the tables.

The boss, though, didn't even pay attention to the clutter contained within the dimly lit expanse, and instead ignored it, carefully avoiding the intricate chalk lines as not to smudge them and walking forward and into the middle of the transmutation circle. Once there, the boss slowly knelt down and gently placed Ed on the floor, directly in the center of the circle before standing back up again and swiftly walking out of the chalk ring, pausing only once he was out of the chalk's expanse.

Turning around, the boss examined the highly acclaimed "Hero of the People" with a curious glance. From the position he was currently in, he had to admit that the blond looked quite innocent and defenseless, passed out and now slightly curled up on the floor. Still, that didn't make the boss feel any regret—or guilt, for that matter—at what he was about to do to the kid.

He had done it to countless other children like Fullmetal before, after all. And besides, what was one more mutant, chimera freak out there? If it helped him attain his personal goals in the long run, then it was worth it.

(His goals and ideals were pretty much all that mattered, after all.)

Finishing up his internal musings with that thought, the boss turned away from the teen and went to retrieve the alchemist that would activate the circle and hopefully create the first avian-human chimera the land of Amestris had ever known. In fact, if all went as planned today, the boss would be able to move on to the next stage in his plan in creating the next generation of the human race.

What a joyous accomplishment that would be.

The boss then started walking away from Ed, walking towards one of the more clean tables, "Tucker! Get in here; I've got your next subject ready for transmuting!"

The bespectacled man appeared not even a minute later, donning pair of slightly tattered slacks and a lab coat that was dusted in dirt and splashed with mysterious, and possibly radioactive, stains. One of the lenses of his glasses was cracked, and the glass flashed brightly when the dim light coming from the lamps above shone down on them as he walked toward where the boss was standing. His voice filled with barely contained excitement at the prospect of creating another of his beautiful chimeras as he said, "Who will it be this time?"

Tucker then looked at the teen lying in the center of the transmutation circle, and instantly froze, recognizing the red-coated figured immediately. "Ed… Edward?"

Painful memories began to surface of Shou's beloved, deceased daughter, Nina.

(His little girl had looked so happy playing with the Edward and Alphonse...)

Images of Nina and Alexander playing in the snow with the Elric brothers rushed to the front of Tucker's mind, and he had to bite his tongue—so hard that he managed to draw blood—to stop himself from calling out her name.

(Gate, he missed her _so much..._)

But, then again, that was why he was here, wasn't it? To get his little girl back, to be able to hold her and hear her laugh again. So, wouldn't it be worth it to exchange Ed for Nina? After all, the boss had said that if he'd create more human chimeras—something that Edward had made clear he vehemently disapproved of—the boss would help him create another, better Nina.

(And, oh, he did want that. He wanted that _so much..._)

The boss, apparently not noticing the intense internal conflict that Shou was currently undergoing, said carelessly, "You know this kid?"

Tucker, remembering that he wasn't alone, slowly tore his gaze away from the elder Elric brother who, to Tucker, seemed to be sleeping peacefully in the middle of that monstrous transmutation circle. Then he looked at the boss, replying with a strained, "Yes."

The boss seemed to gain a contemplative face for a moment before shrugging off the fact that the Sewing Life Alchemist actually knew the kid he'd be turning into a chimera. Tucker had done it before and, despite how close he might be to this kid, the boss would make sure that he did it again.

(After all, they both knew that there was too much at stake for him to even consider not to.)

Still, the boss eyed the former State Alchemist carefully as he asked, "Is this going to be a problem?"

Glancing from the boss to Edward, Tucker realized that the answer expected was, _"No, sir," _but, in all honestly, Tucker still wasn't quite sure. However, after he sent one last look at Ed, Tucker remembered why he was even here in the first place.

_For Nina._

"No, sir."

The boss smiled a toothy grin at the alchemist response, patting him on the head like a child who was being praised before walking back toward the circle. Stopping once his shoes were but an inch away from the white chalk outline, he said, eyes critically examining the chalk, "Good. Now, get the bird, we need to get this over with quickly, preferably _before_ the kid wakes up."

Tucker was already exiting through one of the many doors that lead away from the room Edward and the boss were currently in, his footsteps echoing around the now silent room.

The boss sent a careless glance toward Ed, shoving his hands into his jean pockets, "Just you and me now, kid." The man didn't expect a response, so when he, as predicted, didn't receive one, he continued, a smirk now gracing his shadowed features, "I hope you survive, alchemist. It'd be a shame if you died now because of this."

Then the man walked toward the same desk he had been at earlier, waiting for Tucker to come back with the animal Edward was to be fused with. It didn't take long for the aforementioned lackey to return, bird in tow.

Sending a glance toward Shou, the boss then walked to the entrance to the stairs that he had carried the short alchemist down earlier, intending to get as far away as possible from this place before the new chimera was created. He may not be an alchemist, but that certainly didn't mean that he liked the aura the chimeras gave off. The vibe they exuded sent a shiver racing down his spine just thinking about it, and freshly made chimeras were about ten times worse than older chimeras.

_Twisted creatures the artificially created hybrids were, for sure..._

However, before he ascended the stairs the boss turned toward Tucker one last time before saying, "Don't screw this up, Shou. I'll be back once you finish things up here."

Gulping softly from the implied threat of what would happen to him if this experiment ended in failure, Tucker nodded as the frightening man turned around, satisfied, and walked up the stairs. Shou followed the man's retreating back until it disappeared up the stairwell, eyes lingering a bit before turning away completely and walking up to the circle. He then set the caged white bird down on the ground, wringing his hands for a moment in nervousness.

Then Tucker carefully removed the owl from the cage before deftly walking to the center of the circle, placing the bird on the blond's still-immobile. The white avian stayed there, tilting his head to the side slightly as if asking, _"What's going on?"_

Tucker didn't answer the unvoiced inquiry, and instead stepped back outside the circle, mentally preparing himself for what he was about to do.

Breathing in deeply, the Sewing Life Alchemist kneeled down, and after a moment's hesitation pressed his hands against the circle.

Sending one last fleeting glance at the Fullmetal Alchemist and whispered, "I'm sorry, Edward. But I have to do this... for Nina."

And, with that last dark statement, the intricate transmutation circle lit up, and Ed screamed.

* * *

**A/N: **Ugh, sorry for the cliffhanger. I just couldn't help myself. Heh... *Dodges pitchforks that're being thrown at me* I still haven't planned this all out yet. *Head desk* I really need to set aside time to do that...

**TIMELINE:** If you're wondering, this takes place sometime after the Lab 5 incident in the 2003 anime, though, for obvious reasons, this is AU in the respect that Tucker isn't a freaky half-bear/dog/gorilla thing along with some other aspects. Also, the Elric brothers have not met Greed and his chimeras, nor have they gone to Dublith yet. Okay? Okay.

Thanks for reading! Reviews are loved. XD


	3. Chapter III: The Change

**A/N: **Hey guys! I'm back! (Even though technically I never left...) First off I'd like to thank you all for sticking with this story through these past few months; it means a lot to me! :D Secondly, you all deserve an explanation as for why I haven't updated in x amount of months, and I'll tell you why right now; school. It's been a witch lately (seriously, the devil just won't stop casting homework spells!).

Also, Fluehatraya is now my unofficial test-rabbit for this story. Love ya, Flue.

Oh, and I started writing a book. I've got the first chapter done, too. Not that you care, but eh... XD

* * *

**The Chimera City: Central HQ**

**Chapter III: The Change**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

A Fullmetal Alchemist FanFiction By: The Rose Blue Prince

* * *

Liquid fire raced through Ed's veins, sending waves of pure, freezing agony flying along hungrily after it. Every single part of the alchemist's body was currently in a horrid type of pain—from the tip of his nose to the bottom of his automail thigh port and his flesh foot were all howling in unadulterated anguish. An unnatural wind whipped around him, lashing viciously at his exposed face and tearing mercilessly at his clothes.

To Edward's barely coherent mind, it felt like his skin was being ripped away, rearranged, and then glued harshly back into place again—the feeling similar to when he'd had his arm and leg ripped away from him during his and Al's attempt at Human Transmutation, but somehow worse. Bones snapped violently, then were haphazardly sewn back together again. Organs imploded or exploded, shrinking or enlarging, leaving Ed and his empty lungs choking for much-needed oxygen.

Throughout all of his internal assessment, the boy could only think of one thing; _it hurt. _Those two words were like a mantra swimming brokenly around his head, increasing in volume until they were screaming throughout his aching skull.

_It hurts... It hurts… It hurts! It hurts!_

In fact, it took Ed up until the moment the words reached their peak volume in his brain to realize that he actually was screaming.

"It _hurts!_" his hoarse voice echoed around him, the words tumbling around through the hazy atmosphere, getting lost in the ocean of agony surrounding him before falling into nothingness.

Taking labored breaths, Ed tried to pry his eyes open and see just what was causing him all this torture. And he tried again. And again.

Panting now from the somehow monumental effort of opening his eyes, Ed poured all of his strength into the task for yet another try…

Blue flames danced across his vision when he finally managed to crack them open, his vision limited to the thinnest slit of light because he couldn't bring himself to lift them up more. It took several seconds for Ed to realize that he was looking up at a ceiling through the blue flames, which, he now realized, were actually streaks of alchemically-produced lightning arching through the static filled air.

Suddenly a whole new brand of searing pain tore through Ed's back, making him feel certain that he was going to die right then and there. Shooting up into a sitting position instinctually to try and relieve the torturous tongues of flame licking down his back, the alchemist clenched his hands into fists, gold eyes wide and uncomprehending as they flicked down at the floor below him.

Wait... was that chalk on the floor? Why would someone draw chalk onto the floor…?

"No…" Ed whispered in horror, the reason slamming into him like a ton of lead bricks. He was in the middle of a transmutation circle.

_He was in the middle of a transmutation circle!_

Azure flashed in Ed's vision, but he could only manage to focus on the implications of what that frightening deduction meant. His body was shaking in both pain and fear now, shards of memories slicing through him.

A girl bound to her dog…

An insane man that he thought he could trust…

A grimy lab filled with yowling mutant animals, crying out for someone to help them…

Too late to save them… _Too late…_

And it was all his fault.

Just then, a white hot blaze exploded from his upper back, and Ed screamed bloody murder before falling back onto the mercifully cool floor, unconscious.

* * *

Tucker's breath hitched in his throat and his heart started to hammer in his chest when he heard Ed's blood-curdling scream echo throughout the room.

"_It hurts!"_

Keeping his palms pressed firmly onto the transmutation circle, Shou couldn't help but compare this to when he's combined his daughter and her dog into a monster. It was an eerily similar atmosphere—though quite different circumstances—that honestly made him more than a little uncomfortable.

Shaking his head slowly, the Sewing Life alchemist removed his head from those ugly events and focused on the (not much better) present, blue hues reflecting off of his thick glasses.

All he had to do was focus on the goal… this was for Nina.

_For Nina. _

Certainly it was worth it, right? Equivalent Exchange applied to everything, and this was no different. But… was Edward's humanity and freedom in exchange for his daughter really a fair price? And more importantly, was he willing to pay it?

Tucker honestly wasn't entirely sure anymore. Looking at Ed's prone and vulnerable body lying in the center of that circle, getting attacked by alchemy—_his alchemy—_made his resolve waver slightly.

The life of a boy to bring back the life of a dead girl…

No. It _was _worth it, he knew it to be so. He was going to go through with this, and it's not like he could stop the transmutation now anyway.

Before he could delve into the matter deeper, however, he saw Ed shoot up into a sitting position, golden eyes saucer-like and unseeing. From behind the lenses of his glasses, Tucker saw that Ed's eyes seemed to be glowing in an unnatural hue, almost like burning candles that shone their dominant brightness even through the already overwhelming light of the transmutation.

For a heart stopping moment, Tucker thought that those haunted, unfocused eyes were positioned on him, but the ethereal gold soon disappeared from Shou's sight, looking toward the floor.

Letting out a shaking breath, Tucker kept his gaze on the boy in the circle, noting that the small body was shaking as a leaf might when hounded with a fierce gale. Now it was certainly unusual for Edward to move once the transmutation was activated—any normal person would've been too suffocated by the immense pain to so much as blink.

Then again, both of the Elric brothers—Ed especially so—had proven to be walking contradictions as well as extraordinary individuals. In hindsight Tucker should've expected an anomalous event to occur during Ed's transmutation, seeing how he'd already broken most of what Shou thought possible in the past.

Extraordinary, indeed.

All of a sudden a shrill scream sliced through the air as well as Tucker's thoughts, reechoing around the cold room in a fashion that made Tucker's skin crawl.

Tucker took in the sight of blood spurting from Ed's back with dead eyes, watching emotionlessly as the liquid bled through his coat splashed onto the floor, pooling around Edward. It stained his clothing and coated the back of his hair, as well as smearing when small droplets streaked across his face. The young prodigy's eyes rolled up into his head and he fell limply back onto the floor, out cold.

Taking in the fact that the collection of blood was growing slowly around Ed, Tucker looked through the lightning and observed the now obviously wounded alchemist's appearance. Aside from the boy's blood surrounding him, his clothing was tattered an ripped, most likely from the supernatural wind gusting around the circle, his face was pale and covered in a cold sweat, and the entire rest of him was still trembling violently.

An unpleasant thought drifted through Shou's mind._ What if he doesn't survive?_ The Boss certainly wouldn't be happy with him… And he didn't even want to consider the consequences of letting their most valuable test subject die under his watch.

Tucker shuddered slightly in fear, not at all liking the image in his head of that dreadful scenario. He definitely couldn't let that happen.

Examining said subject again, as well as noting the appearance of the lightning, he reasoned that the process was just about complete.

Some odd minutes later, the blare from the transmutation started to dull and fade until the lightning completely fizzled out, making weak popping noises as it died. Waiting a few more seconds after the last spark had suffocated, Tucker then at last removed his hands from the circle, smearing it before standing up.

Nonchalantly brushing the leftover chalk dust on his pants, the man strode over to Ed, and once he reached him, simply peered down at the golden haired youth for a moment.

The bird had mysteriously disappeared from where Tucker had placed it before the transmutation, but Shou wasn't bothered at all by that fact.

Edward still looked predominately human—that in and of itself was a huge improvement from Nina's transformation. The boy's breathing had also steadied, his chest moving up and down with each inhalation and exhalation of breath. His complexion was much paler than it was this morning—the most likely cause being the combined forces of exhaustion and the new species introduced to Edward's system working on his body.

Shou was quite sure that if Ed's eyes were open they'd be an even more startling shade of gold than they were before.

Tucker began to reach down, planning to sling the boy over his shoulder and take him into a different room for a physical examination, when he stopped cold.

"Unn… lem… lemmings…"

The Sewing Life alchemist's eyes widened in absolute surprise at Ed's mumbled words. There should have been no way the boy could have been even _close _to returning to consciousness yet! It just simply was not possible, even for a boy as extraordinary as Edward Elric!

But he wasn't just a boy anymore, was he?

Unconsciously Shou backed away from the young alchemist lying on the floor. Who knew how dangerous he could be? A bird of prey fused with the fiery, hot-tempered Edward was sure to make a nasty combination for all parties involved, and Tucker most certainly did not want to be on the receiving end on one of his punches when he woke up and realized it had been him that had changed Ed into a monster.

The new chimera's head lolled lazily to the side, and, much to Tucker's chagrin, in the direction of Shou, who was now shamelessly backing away as carefully as possible, so as to not run into anything.

Ed's hazy eyes opened slowly and Tucker, who had not looked away from the boy, had to use all of his willpower to keep himself from bolting up the stairs and fleeing from this place as fast as humanly possible.

Ed blinked, clearing away some of the former clouds in them and furrowed his brows when he met the sight of a frightened Shou Tucker. In a hoarse voice, Ed mumbled, "Hey… aren't you supposed to be dead?"

Tucker gulped at that statement, feeling as his heart started to pound painfully in his chest. Edward was obviously still out of it, but once he woke up, Shou would be in for a world of trouble, that much he was sure. He needed to get out of here, _now._

Ed, on the other hand, was thoroughly confused at what was currently going on. His head was pounding harshly and his vision was spinning, making the dark room sway and tilt in a chaotic rhythm that made him feel like he was going to be sick. Apparently there was a dead guy brought back to life standing in front of him, and _damn everything was hurting. _

Slowly, as if through a barrel of molasses, Ed brought up a shaking left hand to his head, planning to attempt to message the headache away, what he saw, however, stopped him dead in his tracks.

Blood. His hand was coated in it.

The crimson liquid ran lazily down his palm until it dripped off of it, splashing on the front of his coat. Ed didn't doubt for a second that the blood was his.

Lowering his hand back down, Edward placed it under him and, with the help of his right arm, pushed himself into a sitting position. Ed was a little surprised when he felt a weight that shouldn't be there pull on his sore back, but brushed it off for the time being. Then, the boy looked back toward Tucker, and, now that his head was clearer, realized something.

That was _Shou Tucker_. The man that practically murdered his wife and condemned an innocent girl and her dog to a fate worse than death itself.

Suddenly Ed's breathing was labored, and he was on his feet, stalking toward the murderer with hate bubbling in his now flashing gold eyes. He saw the terror in Tucker's face when he saw that Ed recognized him for what he was, and instantly bolted for the stairway.

Ed, however, was definitely not going to let him get away so easily.

Feeling a foreign presence start to take over him, but too enraged to care at the moment, the boy made a dash for the stairway, and, with a seemingly supernatural speed, beat Tucker to it, thereby blocking off his only escape route.

The man gulped, knowing then that _that wasn't Ed_ in there.

Then, the chimera looked up at the putrid man, his eyes animalistic and sharp in nature as they glared daggers at him. Edward had been the one that was supposed to protect Nina—_she was just a hatchling!—_and Tucker had dared to hurt his charge in a way that Ed had no power to fix. New, pure white wings splashed with Ed's blood flared behind him, tearing through his coat in the process, as he hissed out hatefully, "You're going to regret ever laying your filthy hands on Nina, Shou Tucker."

* * *

Meanwhile, back on the surface of Central, Al was beginning to get worried. No, scratch that, he was beginning to freak out. After that weird encounter with the chimera woman earlier today, he had headed back to the dorms only to find the one he was sharing with Ed to be empty.

Now, normally that occurrence in and of itself was nothing to worry about—it had happened before. Ed might've just gotten tired of waiting and went out himself to get some food, or maybe he went to the Command Center to give a report to Mustang (highly unlikely, but still possible), or perhaps he just went out for a walk.

But now, after around four hours of waiting for his brother to walk through the door and demand the breakfast that Al had retrieved for him, the younger Elric wasn't very sure anymore.

Maybe Ed had seen another chimera out on the street and had, as per usual, impulsively set out to get to the bottom of things? But… that wouldn't make any sense. Certainly Edward would've come back and gotten Alphonse for something as important as chimeras.

Around a half an hour ago, though, Al had gotten the weirdest feeling. It was almost like he had his body again, which would've been great except for the fact that it was hurting an unbearable amount. To Alphonse it felt sort of like a distress signal, but that didn't make any sense either. Yet, at the same time the younger Elric felt that his brother was in some serious trouble.

Suddenly Al was on his feet and heading toward to door, fully prepared to go and see if the Colonel had seen his brother today. Maybe Mustang would be able to offer some assistance?

However, right when his armor hand was about to grasp the door handle, someone beat him to it, bursting into the room and almost making Al fall over in surprise. A panting Kain Fuery had just broken through the door, and, upon seeing the younger Elric, spoke through labored breaths, eyes wide as saucers, "Colonel Mustang wants you and Edward to report to the Command Center immediately. We've got a situation…"

* * *

**A/N: **Oh, man... I'm evil. A cliffhanger-two, actually-after making you all wait, what, two+ months? What in the world is WRONG with me? ...Eh, I blame Magi. She's a devilish one.

And if you're wondering... that was ELRIC TELEPATHY! :DD (It needed more love, man.)

Also, did you know I finished this entire chapter in over the span of two days (today morning and yesterday night)? Yup... inspiration just hit me like a flying mongoose when I read madacat153's review... that, and I felt guilty. XD (Guilt and inspiration are the best motivators for writing, no?)

Hey, I also have a question for you all; what's a snowy owl's favorite food?

Thanks for reading, lovelies. Comments appreciated. :)


	4. Chapter IV: The Vengeance

**A/N: **Whoop! I'm actually back with the next chapter on time for once! (I'm so proud of myself... XD)

Here's a special thanks to Flue for helping me out with my VERY FIRST FIGHT SCENE EVER. Scary, right? Well... I hope it's not too bad, at least. xP

Anyway, lets cut to the chase and get this chapter started! I'll see you at the bottom~!

* * *

**The Chimera City: Central HQ**

**Chapter IV: The Vengeance**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

A Fullmetal Alchemist FanFiction By: The Rose Blue Prince

* * *

Tucker scurried back and gulped thickly, his eyes rapidly flicking around the room in an attempt to find an exit—_any_ exit. But, of course, the only way in or out of the hidden underground lab was the stairway that the enraged Ed chimera was currently blocking.

No matter how desperate Shou was, he was definitely not stupid enough to chance an escape that way. As such, the former State Alchemist began backing up slowly, never taking his eyes off Edward. The man's hands trembled as he desperately thought up a plan of action.

Shou's breath hitched in his throat when the new chimera took an agonizingly step forward. Then another. And another. All the while the teen said nothing; instead he opted for simply glaring molten fire at Tucker.

The young alchemist's golden gaze made the man shudder, a jagged ice dagger slicing down his back despite the piercing heat of the glare.

Ed took yet another step forward, though this one seemed faster and more determined than those that came before it. A previously forgotten and broken test tube that had fallen from one of the many tables scattered throughout the outer edges of the room crushed noisily under Edward's boot with the action. The crunching of glass tore through the tense, still air of the shadowy room mercilessly, sending ripples of unpleasant noise catapulting through the space.

To Tucker it seemed as if the chimera was purposefully trying to give him a heart attack.

Suddenly Shou found his back pressed up against the cool cement wall, and he realized that he must've already crossed the entire length of the room already.

Tucker then realized in a cold, calculating manner that he would either have to inch his way along the wall until he reached the only other door in the room—a door that lead to the examination room he was planning to take Edward to before he had unexpectedly woken up, and attempt to hold the room, or fight for his life right here, literally backed up against a wall.

The Sewing Life Alchemist honestly didn't like either option very much, but the man chose to take the former, for it was the both the better option and the only idea his panicked mind could come up with at the moment.

Suddenly, though, Ed lunged forward, halting Tucker's half-formed plan in its tracks.

An inhuman, high-pitched screech clawed itself out of the chimera's throat, and his metal fist shot out, connecting squarely with Tucker's jaw in a perfect right hook with a sickening crack. Shou's head snapped to the side from the force of the blow, and the man could've sworn that he heard his neck pop from the force of it.

Shocked by the sudden and violent action, Shou could only stand there against the wall for a moment, the feel of thick, sticky liquid rushing into his mouth commanding his thoughts as black dots swam hungrily across his vision.

Tucker was almost positive that that punch had broken, if not shattered, his jaw. The man ran his tongue slowly across his now chipped teeth before spitting out the bloody fragments, his saliva thick and tinted red.

Then, the stunned man slowly raised a shaking hand to his jaw and when he took the appendage away the skin was coated in blood. Tucker's scared eyes connected with Ed's fiery ones for a moment before he forced his shaking legs to move and bolted toward the examination room door.

Edward, however, saw this last-ditch effort toward escape coming, and promptly took off after him, running and jumping in front of Shou right before he managed to reach his only chance of escape. Tucker, in turn, proceeded to desperately scramble backwards, away from the glowering gold of Ed's eyes.

Ed wasn't having any of that.

The teen may not have been entirely aware of himself at the moment, but he did know one thing above all else; this _monster_ needed to pay for all of the horror he'd inflicted. It was Equivalent Exchange, and Ed was going to play the role of the Gate this time around to make sure the toll was paid in full.

That thought set firmly in his mind, the chimera swiped his metal leg out and knocked Tucker over, sending the man crashing to the floor.

Edward then grabbed the fallen and beaten man up off the floor and pressed him roughly against the wall. When the fear-filled blue were mere centimeters from rage-filled gold, the chimera hissed, "I hope that you burn for all of eternity for what you have done, you monster."

And then Ed flipped the man over his head, spinning around in the process, and threw him mercilessly onto the hard floor. Stars clouded Tucker's vision from the rough impact, and refused to clear.

Ed then proceeded to inflict a barrage of kicks and punches on the prone man, each more recklessly violent and powerful than the last. After a while of this, however, the chimera began to tire, his exhaustion finally starting to catch up with him.

It was at this point that the animal in the alchemist began to recede back to a deeper corner of his mind, allowing Edward full conscious control of his body once more.

Once this happened, Ed nearly fell over from the power-shift, his mind fuzzy and his body relatively numb. At the same time, unbeknownst to him, the blood-splattered wings that had previously fanned out behind him dropped down, limp.

Edward then blinked and looked around him dazedly, his brows furrowing when his dimmed eyes took in the darkened surroundings of the lab. How had he gotten here…? And why did it smell like blood—?

Ed looked down, following the tangy and familiar scent.

Oh. Someone was bleeding on the floor.

He didn't recognize the person—they were so beat up and bruised it was impossible to tell—but there were two things he did, albeit unconsciously, know about them. One was that if they weren't dead already, they most certainly would be soon. Two was that, without a doubt, they deserved their abuse.

How the young alchemist knew the latter fact was unknown to him, but that didn't bother him much at the moment. Currently, Ed felt like he was going to fall over if he didn't find someplace to rest for a bit, some of the former numbness fading away and leaving a heavy exhaustion in its place.

He was so _tired._

And with that, Ed deftly stepped over the fallen man on the floor, and crossed the room, headed toward the stairway.

He didn't look back as he climbed the stairs.

* * *

If Alphonse had eyebrows, he would have been furrowing them at the moment. As it were, the boy didn't appear to react much to Fuery's breathless announcement. Instead, Al simply asked, "What do you mean by 'situation'?"

Kain, somehow, managed to pale even more at the question and replied, "It's… hard to explain. Just get your brother and report to Colonel Mustang's office, and he'll explain everything."

Before Alphonse had a chance to respond with 'I don't know where he is', Fuery removed himself from the dorm room and dashed out and down the hallway. To where, exactly, the man went Al didn't know.

Deciding to follow Fuery's message, Alphonse wrote a short note telling Ed to report to Mustang's if he happened to come back to the dorm while Al was out before exiting the room.

The suit of armor never even noticed a small, ripped slip of paper with his brother's scrawled handwriting lying forgotten in a corner of the room, underneath the small side table beside the single bed as he shut the door behind him.

It didn't take Alphonse too long to get to Colonel Mustang's office, despite all of the military officers rushing around the building in a sort of frantic panic.

They were whispering in hushed tones about '_chimeras' _and an _'invasion'._

Neither things sounded very good to Al, and with this new information, the boy could now assume what this whole situation business was about.

Chimeras seemed to be a strong central theme in today's events.

Now standing outside the door to Mustang's office, Al knocked politely and almost immediately received a grunted, "Come in," from the other side of the door.

Once the boy opened the door, Al's soul fire eyes were met with a strange sight—one of many that he had witnessed today. All of Mustang's team—aside from Fuery, who Alphonse assumed was still running around Central—were assembled in the room, looking worried, harried, and all around panicked.

Well, everyone except for 1st Lt. Hawkeye, that is. She appeared to be as stoic and calm as ever.

Not wanting to interrupt what appeared to be a serious discussion taking place between the team crowded around Mustang's desk and still wanting answers all the same, Al timidly asked, "What exactly is going on here, Colonel?"

When everyone instantly quieted after Al had spoken, the younger Elric thought that he'd done something wrong, and was about to apologize for interrupting when Mustang answered him with a question of his own, "Where is Fullmetal, Alphonse? I told Fuery that I was calling for you both."

Al felt unnerved by the strange tone of the man's voice, but replied nonetheless, "That's actually what I wanted to ask you, Colonel. I haven't seen Brother all day; I was hoping that you might've—"

Before Alphonse could finish speaking, Mustang interjected with a muttered, "That idiot…"

However, the man's tone sounded more concerned than angry, and that confused Al a little bit. Sure, he was worried about his brother too, but there must be a really good really to be concerned if _Mustang _was openly showing worry for Edward. Something must be wrong, horribly wrong, in fact… And since everyone seemed tense and panicked, maybe—

"Colonel, what's the situation?"

Mustang's demeanor turned grim, then, as he replied, "I'm sure you already know, Alphonse. Can't you feel it?"

Now that Mustang had mentioned it, Al could feel something… _weird_ in the air. Almost like when he'd met that chimera saleswoman earlier today—

Oh. Of course. The chimeras.

"Yeah, I met a chimera lady this morning, is that what you mean, Colonel?"

Mustang nodded gravely, turning from Al and the rest of the team to look out of the many windows in his office as he said, "Central's full of human chimeras that appeared to come into existence over night—no one knows how or why yet, and the military is in a state of panic, as you have probably already seen. We need to find your brother, he might be out there right now investigating, or he could be…" the man paused for a moment before finishing forebodingly, "Or he could be one of them."

* * *

Ed, now outside of the accursed laboratory, was currently debating something. He could either, A) walk all the way back to the dorms, the likes of which he assumed were on the other side of town, or B) walk to the presumably closer Central Headquarters and see if Mustang and crew would be willing to lend him a couch to crash on.

Neither option was sounding appealing at the moment, but since the alchemist would like to see the welcome sight of a bed as soon as possible, he made the latter decision, choosing convenience over comfort.

(In this case convenience meant the distance he'd have to walk to get to a bed/couch, whilst comfort meant Alphonse over the Colonel. Considering the circumstances, Ed would say that he made the right choice.)

As he began the long and agonizing walk to HQ, the teen was wondering how he even got all the way out here near the edge of town in the first place. He couldn't seem to remember anything before seeing that dead body on the floor…

Disconcerting as that may be, Ed shrugged it off for the moment, too mentally and physically drained to really care too much about it.

After trudging down several unfamiliar streets, it wasn't long before Ed realized something.

He was fading, _fast. _

If he didn't get to the Headquarters soon, Ed would probably just opt for finding a nice, quiet dark alley and taking a rest there for awhile. Because, no matter how bad and unsafe a choice that may be, his shaking body was practically screaming at him to stop and have mercy on it.

Thus far, however, Edward had successfully staved off his body's pleas for a break, despite the haze beginning to settle in over his mind.

When the teen looked around him to check and see how far he's managed to go, he was disappointed to see that he wasn't even close to the military building. In fact, Ed hadn't even walked more than five blocks away from the lab yet.

Also, he somehow had managed to avoid any and all people on his little trek to HQ, but he wasn't too worried about the absence of the general population at the moment.

'_That alley idea is sounding really good right now…' _he thought tiredly before shaking his head slightly as if to clear it. _'No. I'm not going to give up now. I can make it...'_

With that self-motivating thought, the young alchemist continued on walking, ignorant to the wings dragging behind him as their tips brushed lightly against the sidewalk.

Finally, after walking for what seemed to be an eternity to Edward, the chimera finally spotted the top of the HQ building—which looked surprisingly clear, despite the considerable distance between Ed and the building—over the roofs of the structures that lined the street he was currently trudging down. It was a welcome sight, to say the least, and Ed would've smirked victoriously had his trembling legs not decided at that moment to give out on him.

Ed gave a small grunt of pain when his knees slammed into the hard concrete sidewalk before sighing, deciding to cave and give in to his body's cries of protest.

Dragging himself over to an alley hidden between a small coffee and flower shop, Ed reasoned that spending five minutes to catch his breath wouldn't be too bad a thing.

The Fullmetal Alchemist then propped himself against the alley wall that connected to the coffee shop, unconsciously tucking his wings into folds set in his back, and closed his eyes.

It only took a minute of resting there before the soothing, warm scent of coffee and his exhaustion dragged the teen under into the numb darkness of sleep.

* * *

A while after Ed had escaped the lab, the Boss came back to check up on the results his Sewing Life Alchemist pawn had gathered from his latest assignment.

The Boss had been fairly sure that Tucker was capable of containing and controlling the Fullmetal Alchemist, like he had done countless times before with the other chimeras he had transmuted, but as he entered the stairway and began heading down the stairs, he lost that certainty.

Something wasn't right here…

Quickening his pace slightly, the man reached the bottom step and was met with the image of possibly the one thing he hated the most.

Failure.

The Boss knew that that was what he was currently looking at. The things that the Boss immediately took note of were that lab was dark and tinged with the scent of blood—both of these weren't uncommon occurrences, however, but the next thing he noticed was.

His pawn was a lump of purple and green bruises, lying in a pool of his own blood on the floor.

Suddenly anger filled the Boss' soul. The man was angry at himself; he never should have trusted Tucker to handle the Fullmetal brat alone—he should've known something was going to go wrong! That, and the fact that the little rat had actually managed to escape made the Boss' blood boil.

Above all else, however, the Boss was furious at the pathetic excuse for a human being lying on the floor.

The Boss stormed across the room, then, and loomed over Shou's broken form. The man was apparently even more pathetic and weak than he'd originally assumed—how could he have even managed to get so beaten up by a teenager that had just undergone a fusion transmutation? The boy would've had to have been weak—or, at least, weaker than normal—and then some with the stress of a new species having been introduced to his system.

His expression turning into something of disgust, the Boss then harshly kicked the already severely abused Shou Tucker. Upon impact, the crippled man let out a quiet moan that only served to anger the Boss further.

How _dare _that pathetic, useless, worthless, _pawn _have the gall to continue _living!_

Upon the sudden impact of a hard boot slamming into his side, Tucker moaned and managed to open his hazy eyes a crack, only to be met with the unwelcome sight of a leather boot lowering over his neck, planning to snap it.

That boot would be the last thing he would ever see.

…_Sorry, Nina…_

* * *

**A/N: **And that's a wrap, folks! XD Hehe, I'm such an evil person. I think I'm addicted to cliffhangers or something; they're so fun to write! M'kay, well, away from that, I'd like to first thank each and every wonderful person that had reviewed my story so far, it really means a lot (yada yada yada, insert cliched sentimental stuff here).

And guess what? I finished outlining this story! I never thought I'd manage to get THAT monster of a task done, but I did! *Hugs self* Take that, my horrid curse of extreme procrastination!

Also, I'd love to know what you think of this story thus far, so please feel free to leave me a review to feed my starving soul (apparently I'm the Gate now x3)!

See you next time! :D

**Edit: **Whoops, I forgot to put this in here... The answer to the question last chapter is *pause for dramatic effect* lemmings! Congrats to all who got it right. XD


	5. Chapter V: The Search

**A/N: "**What's this...? An update? No... it can't be! It hasn't even been a week since the last one yet!" *Slaps disbelieving people* Guess what? You're NOT dreaming, this really is an update! :D (And a freakishly long one, at that...)

So, go, take it! Take my words and let your eyes devour them, I insist!

_Notice: _This chapter contains the following; Parental!RoyEd and a tiny bit of /light/ RoyRiza.

Enjoy! :D

* * *

**The Chimera City: Central HQ**

**Chapter V: The Search**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. I do, however, own this story.

A Fullmetal Alchemist FanFiction By: The Rose Blue Prince

* * *

_Last chapter:_ _Mustang nodded gravely, turning from Al and the rest of the team to look out of the many windows in his office as he said, "Central's full of human chimeras that appeared to come into existence over night—no one knows how or why yet, and the military is in a state of panic, as you have probably already seen. We need to find your brother, Alphonse. He might be out there right now investigating, or he could be…" the man paused for a moment before finishing forebodingly, "Or he could be one of them."_

A dead silence hung over the room in response to Mustang's words, ringing out with an almost tangible sense of dread throughout the crowed office.

Alphonse, not wanting to believe the horrendous implications that went along with the Colonel's words, said hesitantly, "But you're not sure that's what happened to Brother, right?"

Mustang nodded a diminutive amount in response, still staring out of the window and gazing down at the streets of Central below with a critical expression, "Yes, but we can't rule anything out yet. As of right now all we know is that Fullmetal has been missing since this morning—right, Alphonse?"

Al inclined his helmet a bit in affirmation, "That's right. He was still sleeping when I left this morning to get him breakfast, but when I came back to our dorm, maybe a half an hour later, he was gone. I waited there for him until Sergeant Major Fuery burst in and told me about the 'situation'."

The Colonel turned away from the window, and faced his assembled team—plus Alphonse—with one of his usual serious expressions. In a tone that screamed '_don't mess with me', _he commanded, "Alright. Everyone, we need to fan out and search Central for Fullmetal. 2nd Lt. Havoc and 2nd Lt. Breda, scour the south end, 1st Lt. Hawkeye, you take the north with 2nd Lt. Falman," Mustang then paused, and turned to Al as he said, "I know I don't have command over you, but I'd like it if you would search the east end for your brother."

Alphonse was all too eager to aid in the search for his brother, and so he happily replied, "Of course, Colonel! I'll do anything I can to help find Brother."

The Flame Alchemist nodded and turned back to his team, "I'll take the west section of the city, then. I expect a report every hour, and if you see any civilian chimeras out on the streets, don't confront them; they could be dangerous and unstable. Leave that mess for the higher ups to figure out."

Everyone then grabbed their gear, strapping guns to their belts and reigning in their former panic, ready to set off and complete their latest mission.

However, just before they all exited Mustang's office and headed out to their assigned sectors, the Colonel had one last instruction to give, "Whatever happens today, I expect everyone to come back. We will find Fullmetal."

And with that, the team (plus Alphonse) left the office, pushed through the other still-panicking military officers scattered throughout the building, and went off to find the missing Fullmetal Alchemist.

Roy watched them all go, lagging behind for a moment. Despite his previously serious and in-control appearance, the Colonel was quite honestly worried about his young protégé. Given Edward's normally reckless nature combined with this whole chimera mess, Roy wouldn't be surprised in the least if Ed had managed to get himself into a yet another tight situation this time around.

Then again, the young alchemist could be perfectly fine, and that would make this whole 'rescue mission' business a major waste of time.

However, despite the latter possibility, Mustang wasn't willing to risk the possibility that the former was the case.

Coming out of his revere, the man pulled on his spark gloves and headed out after his team, pushing through the frantic officers and soon arriving at the entrance to the HQ building. From there, he exited the building and turned west, dark eyes carefully searching through the late afternoon shadows that blanketed the street he was walking down.

Knowing Fullmetal, the kid could be anywhere, and Mustang wasn't going to leave any dark corner ignored. The Colonel would do everything he could to try and find Edward, just as he was sure the other members of his team were certainly doing right now.

Ed was a part of his team after all, and, although the man may not show it, Mustang really did care about him and his safety.

Edward got into enough dangerous situations on his own, and now that he had gone missing without an explanation, Roy wasn't just going to sit around and do nothing. Especially when he could be out here looking for the red-coated shrimp that was currently labeled as MIA.

That and the Colonel really didn't think that he'd be able to handle the loss of another team member and comrade after Hughes' recent murder. Mustang's gloved hands fisted at his sides at the unpleasant memory of a cold, black night and a bloody phone booth.

No. He would bring home Ed, alive. Mustang would not allow himself to lose another person he cared about.

Roy reached the end of the street, which ended in a forked divergence, and considered for a moment before heading down the street on the left.

Though the man would search for however long was necessary to find Ed, he would really prefer to find him quickly. His brisk pace and cold 'no nonsense' outer appearance made that clear, but as minutes continued to tick by and one street after another was left behind him, the onyx haired man's exterior façade began to fade. The slightest glint of worry entered his black eyes, and it was clear to any outsider who cared to look that the Colonel was tense.

In ten more minutes an hour would've already passed by, and his team would be giving him their first report.

Mustang hoped that they wouldn't have to make any more.

The man's head turned as he scanned the street he was currently trekking down when he felt the drizzling beginnings of an oncoming rainstorm plop against his head. Small, light water droplets splashed when they hit Mustang's head and then proceeded to roll down his short black hair, falling onto the street below.

The man paused in his walking and looked up, a bit surprised to see that the sky—which had been blue and clear when he'd left the HQ earlier—was now grey and had filled with dark, ominous storm clouds. The air smelled strongly of the oncoming rain, and a light, cool wind began to blow across the street, ruffling Roy's hair slightly as it went.

There was no doubt that those clouds would burst open and hurl their unsavory contents at the world below soon.

Mustang scowled as he removed his dark gaze from the sky above, continuing to survey the empty street.

He hated rain.

The Colonel would just have to hope that he'd have already retrieved Edward and had made it back to his office before the downpour could begin.

Mustang then started to walk down the street again. He'd lost count of how many roads he'd searched so far, but it seemed like it'd been at least an eternity since he'd left the warmth and comfort of his office and headed out to brave the cold, desolate streets of Central.

Suddenly, the comforting smell of hot coffee assaulted Roy, and he stopped walking as his nose drew his eyes to a shop to the left of him called 'Caffeine and Pastry Central'. The small café didn't look like much—it appeared to be just another average brick coffee shop, just like the other ten or so similar establishments scattered throughout Central. In fact, the only thing at all interesting about it was the small green flower shop that stood next to it, the sweet fumes from the blossoms inside mixing with the bitter scent of coffee and wafting out onto the street for passersby like Roy to smell.

However, even though the café didn't seem exceptional in any way, Mustang briefly debated whether or not to go in and grab a cup. The drink would certainly raise his spirits and fight off some of the chill that was beginning to invade Roy's body through his thin, blue military coat.

After a moment more of pondering, Mustang decided against taking the deviation, opting instead to just deal with the cold and continue searching.

As he began walking again, a small alley situated between the flower and coffee shops caught his attention. Roy turned toward the alley and immediately noticed the slight glint of gold that was shining dully from within its darkened depths. His heart sped up a bit at the sight, hoping and yet not that that was Ed's hair—and, by extension, Edward himself—that he was seeing.

Scenarios flashed rapidly through the man's mind as he approached the alley. If that was indeed Ed, then why was he there in the alley? Was he okay? Was he hurt?

…_Was he dead?_

Mustang disappeared into the darkness of the alleyway with that thought stuck firmly in his mind. A bad feeling was beginning to make itself known in his gut, but he shoved the dread aside.

The Colonel took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. He was getting ahead of himself, his mind resorting to the worst case scenario and thinking at a million miles a second—

'_But what if he's dead?' _Roy's mind screamed at him. After Ishval, after losing Meas, and after seeing so much _death, _the man didn't think he could take it if his youngest subordinate really was dead in this alley.

Despite his dread, Mustang forced himself to swallow down his fear, and looked down at the source of the gold glint.

"No…" Roy breathed, his eyes wide as they took in the sight of Ed sitting, propped up against one of the alley's walls.

The Fullmetal Alchemist looked nothing like he normally did; spunky, fiery, and explosive. Instead, Ed looked like he'd just returned from a war—and a nasty one, at that. The boy's signature red cloak was ripped and stained with blood, and his complexion was an unbelievably pale shade of white (even his hair looked whiter than normal, but that could just be the lighting). Ed was also covered in cuts and bruises that completed the 'death' look he was currently wearing.

Oh, Gate, is he even breathing?

Mustang hastily dropped to his knees and snatched up Edward's flesh wrist, pushing up the ruined coat's sleeve in the process, hoping against all hope that _this wasn't what it looked like. _The man then frantically pressed two fingers against the cool, exposed flesh and waited.

_He's dead, he's dead, he's dead …_

The unforgiving mantra repeated endlessly throughout Roy's head, spiraling around and choking him with its ferocity. No, he couldn't believe it… Ed wouldn't just _die_. He was too _strong_ for that.

This couldn't be happening, not again… First Hughes, now Ed?

The seconds ticked by at an agonizingly slow rate, and Mustang's stomach clenched with an icy dread. The sky overhead chose at that moment to burst open and spill its frigid contents on the two. The drizzle was replaced with a downpour, and Roy shivered a bit when the icy water hit his exposed flesh. He didn't move his finger's from their position on Ed's wrist, however.

Finally, the man felt it. A pulse.

The Colonel could've fainted from relief in that moment. He wasn't dead… _Ed wasn't dead! _

Ed's pulse was barely a whisper, hardly able to be heard over Mustang's now thundering heartbeat. Perhaps that's why the man hadn't been able to feel it sooner.

Now that he had established that his protégé wasn't currently joining those in the land of the dead, Mustang calmed down a bit and looked over Edward once more.

He still looked beaten up, but now Roy noticed a slight flush to his chalky white cheeks. Did he have a fever?

Carefully, Mustang brushed away some of Ed's long, golden blond bangs and pressed the back of his hand onto Edward's forehead. The Colonel's worry spiked when the heat currently radiating off of Ed's forehead singed the back of his hand.

How long had Fullmetal been out here in the cold like this?

Without thinking about it, Mustang shrugged himself out of his coat, his concerned black irises never leaving Edward. Now Roy had only a white button up shirt to protect him from the chill of the late afternoon air, but he didn't mind it too much, too concerned about Edward to worry about himself all that much.

After the Colonel had successfully taken off his coat, he carefully extended an arm and wrapped it around Ed's shoulders, holding his jacket in the other. Pulling the boy closer to him, Mustang draped the coat over Edward's shoulders, not missing the extreme feverish heat he could feel coming off of Ed's body.

Roy would definitely have to take him to a doctor—that high a fever could not possibly be safe for Ed's young body. And, despite how much Edward hated them, Roy would probably have to opt for a hospital.

However, before the man could even think up where the nearest hospital was from where he and Ed were now, he remembered.

The chimeras.

Who knew how far they'd infiltrated Central? They could be anywhere, and that meant that it probably wasn't a safe bet to take Ed to a hospital right now.

But where else could he go…?

Maybe there were some doctors present at Headquarters—?

However, Mustang's train of thought halted when Edward suddenly shivered, his small body trembling violently in the cold in spite of the jacket wrapped around him and the fever boiling in his body. Unconsciously Ed scooted closer to Mustang before leaning forward and pressing his forehead against the Colonel's chest.

Roy froze, shocked at the display. Edward must be _really_ messed up right now if he was seeking out Mustang for comfort, even if it was unconsciously.

The Colonel looked down at the teen, concern clear in his dark eyes. They definitely had to head back to HQ and hope that there was a doctor there, _now._

Mustang then carefully slipped his left arm behind Ed's back and his right arm under the boy's legs before standing up. (Roy felt something strange beneath the arm supporting the teen's back, but didn't pay it too much heed at the moment.)

"Damn, Fullmetal… you're heavy." Roy grunted, glancing down at the burden in his arms.

Then, Mustang readjusted the teen in his arms so that he was holding him bridal style (something the Colonel was sure that Ed would punch him in the face for if he ever heard about), and Ed's head lolled idly to the side, resting on Mustang's shoulder.

The two of them must've looked ridiculous, perhaps even comical, standing there in the shady alley, and if the situation hadn't been so serious, Roy could've laughed at the absurdity of it.

Instead the dark haired man simply sighed and said to deaf ears, "You better appreciate this later, Edward."

And then the Colonel walked off toward the command center, his young charge in tow.

* * *

It didn't take Mustang nearly as long to get back to the HQ building from the alley as it did to get from there to the alley in the first place, despite the force of the pouring rain pounding down on him and the added weight of Edward weighing the man down. Though, that was to be expected considering how he didn't have to critically examine each and every shadowy corner for traces of the previously missing Fullmetal Alchemist.

The man was glad for the quick time he made—over the course of the short trip Ed had looked progressively worse and Mustang had to wonder what exactly the kid had done to get like that in the first place.

As he approached the large brick HQ building, Roy noticed someone standing out in front of it, seemingly waiting for him in the rain. Narrowing his eyes against the onslaught of water, the Colonel realized after a moment that it was Hawkeye. She must've been waiting out there to give him her hourly report.

Jogging the last twenty feet or so, Mustang stopped in front of the sharpshooter and asked, "Do you know if there are any doctors present at Headquarters today?"

The 1st Lt. considered for a moment before replying, "No, sir. I'll have to check."

Mustang nodded, and then briefly looked down at the teenager in his arms before looking back up at Riza. He then said, "I'm going to my office, if the team's not already there, get them and come report to me once you're done."

Hawkeye nodded curtly and watched as Mustang walked briskly toward his office, her eyes lingering for a bit on the bloody teen in his arms. Right before Roy entered the building, however, he called over his shoulder, "You shouldn't be out in the rain, 1st Lt. You could get sick."

And then he entered the building, leaving a wet Hawkeye standing outside, a small smile now gracing her lips.

Mustang made quick work of navigating through the building, avoiding the bewildered stares of other military officers with practiced ease. Once he reached the outer part of his office the Colonel kicked open the door with his foot, making a newly startled Fuery look up in surprise from his desk. Kain stared at Mustang's drenched form for a moment before noticing the beaten up and bloody Ed in his arms, and once he did, Fuery was on his feet and quickly heading over to Roy.

Kain opened his mouth, but before the tech-savvy man could ask any questions regarding Edward, Roy beat him to the chase by saying, "Questions later. Right now I need a first aid kit for Fullmetal."

Fuery shut his open mouth and nodded, heading over to his desk again and pulling out a decently sized first aid kit. Turning back to the Colonel, he asked, "Will this work, Colonel?"

Roy nodded and motioned for Kain to follow him into his private office, which the younger man opened the door to. Same familiar couch, same old windows, and same annoying stack of ever-constant, severely annoying paperwork stacked on Roy's large wooden desk.

Once inside the room, Mustang deemed that the couch would be an appropriate place to put Edward, and then did so, laying the teen carefully on the soft cushions. That done, Roy then turned to Fuery and said, "The others should be arriving soon. Right now we need to try and patch up Fullmetal."

Kain nodded, flipped the latch up on the medical kit, and opened the case. He examined its contents for a moment before pulling out a bottle of disinfectant, a roll of gauze, and some bandages. The tech-savvy man didn't really know much relating to the medical field, but he knew enough to get by.

Turning toward his superior, he said uncertainly, "We should probably take off Ed's coats first."

Roy jerked his head in agreement, and then proceeded to do so, bending down and lifting Ed's torso up off the couch to accomplish the task.

"What…" The Colonel breathed, staring wide eyed at Edward's back, the newly removed jackets (Ed's red and black coats along with Roy's blue one the boy had been wearing) laying discarded on the floor.

Fuery, who was to the left of Mustang and therefore couldn't see Ed's back, raised an eyebrow and asked, "What is it, sir?"

When Roy didn't reply to his question, Kain became concerned. He was just about to walk around the Colonel and see for himself what he was looking at when slowly Mustang's hand grabbed the thing that was currently garnering his attention. The dark eyed man appeared to examine the object for a minute before pulling on it and bringing it into Fuery's line of sight.

What the Sergeant Major saw made him openly gasp in surprise. "Is… is that what I think it is?"

Mustang nodded, his face an unreadable mask as he said, "It's a wing."

* * *

A little while later, the rest of Mustang's team (plus Alphonse), headed back to Roy's office, guided by the Colonel's instructions passed on to them by Hawkeye.

They had all been disheartened with their own lack of success in finding Edward, but since Mustang was now calling them all back they assumed that the Colonel had managed to find the short-tempered teen himself.

The assumption was proven to be correct when they entered Mustang's office, seeing Roy and Kain standing over what appeared to be the sleeping form of Edward Elric.

Everyone, including the usually rigid Riza, visibly relaxed in relief. They were all equally glad that Ed had been found and wasn't dead.

The first of their little group to speak up was Alphonse, who politely asked, "Thank you for finding Brother, Colonel. Is he alright?"

A still silence was all the reply the boy got, and Al felt his nonexistent stomach freeze over in a sudden feeling of dread. Then, Al quickly pushed past everyone, even going as far as (gently) shoving aside Mustang and Fuery to get to his brother.

What the armored boy saw made him fear all the more for his elder sibling.

"What happened to him?" Al whispered in horror, taking in each disturbingly gory detail with his burning soul fire eyes. Edward was currently looking like, for lack of a better word, the dead.

But the blond teen's white ashen face and numerous half-bandaged cuts weren't what Al was talking about, and Mustang knew what he was referring to. The Colonel looked down at Ed with a pained expression and said reluctantly, "I don't know."

The rest of the team warily approached the unconscious Ed, not sure whether or not they wanted to see him now that it had been said that something was wrong with him.

Once Havoc caught sight of the young alchemist's new wings, which were poking out slightly to his sides from underneath him, the man's ever-present cigarette fell from his mouth as his jaw dropped. Havoc then spluttered out incredulously, "The Chief's a chimera now…?"

Once the taboo word had left Jean's lips, everyone in the room shuddered. Suddenly, though, Mustang strode toward the door to his office and shut it with a bit more force than necessary. Then the man turned to his assembled team and commanded, fire in his eyes, "No one will breathe a word of this to anyone except those present here now. We don't know how this will affect Fullmetal, and until that's been determined, no one needs to know about his new… status. I expect everyone to follow this instruction. Understood?"

Everyone nodded simultaneously, and Breda worriedly asked after a moment of silence, "What are we going to do now?"

Mustang glanced down at his youngest subordinate for a moment, an unreadable look in his eye. Then, he said, "We get him a doctor."

* * *

**A/N: **Roy... why are you so difficult to write?! *Face desk* Whatever, I had SO MUCH FUN writing this chapter, I think my difficulty with his character was more than worth it. *Hugs Roy*

Guess what guys? My one-year-anniversary of joining FanFiction is coming up! Thanks for all of your wonderful support and for making me have a wonderful year! I've gotten so much better that it's unbelievable... Really, when I look back at some of my older stuff and compare it to the new stuff, it's amazing. *Hugs you all*

Thanks for everyone's awesome reviews on the last chapter! They made me so happy. T_T *Tears of happiness* Now... care to feed my soul and offer some more reviews to your humble writer *cough* the Gate *cough*. It is Equivalent Exchange, after all. :D

Also, I hope that I didn't butcher the Parental!RoyEd too badly... eh. I tried. XD

See you all next time! ;3


	6. Chapter VI: The Diagnosis

**A/N: **Okay. Just... this chapter... *Face desk* ...That is all.

Also, new summary! Yeah! I like this one better than the last one, honestly. xP

* * *

**The Chimera City: Central HQ **

**Chapter VI: The Diagnosis**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. I do, however, own this story.

A Fullmetal Alchemist FanFiction By: The Rose Blue Prince

* * *

As per her orders, Hawkeye had scoped out Headquarters for any doctors or physicians that might have been present there today. After a few minutes of her decidedly discreet and covert searching, the Lt. had managed to find a doctor on the premise—namely, one Dr. Knox.

Riza was glad that out of any doctor she could have found that it was Knox. She knew that Colonel Mustang and him had been Ishvalan Civil War comrades, and therefore had established at least the barest amount of trust in each other. This was a good thing considering the thing the team needed him for could technically be considered 'treason'—or, at the very least, illegal—after the whole incident with Shou Tucker and his talking chimeras.

Hawkeye had then approached the doctor by masterfully swimming through the crowded and frenzied hallways of the Central command center. Once she had reached him, she had quietly told him the barest details of what had happened to Ed. Basically, Hawkeye had informed him of everything that she knew at the moment along with the tip that Mustang needed him, but Knox didn't need to know that.

That said, Dr. Knox had agreed to try and help Edward, though Riza was pretty sure that she heard a comment about "being rusty with live patients". Despite this worrisome remark, the Lt. and the doctor had headed back to Mustang's office where Knox was currently doing a physical examination on Ed now.

The doctor was currently crouched down next to Ed with a stethoscope placed over his fluttering heart, a critical expression set firmly on his face. Knox muttered gruffly, "I can honestly say I've never seen anything like it before."

In response to those words Alphonse, who was standing just to the left of the doctor and staring worriedly down at his brother, stiffened and turned toward Knox. Al then ground out seriously, "Him."

Knox sent a sideways glance toward Alphonse and asked, "What?"

Tersely, and with the slightest bit of venom, Alphonse replied, "_Him_. My brother is not an '_it'._"

Everyone in the room froze, then, and turned with an agonizing slowness toward Alphonse. For several moments a thick, tense silence shrouded the room before it was broken by Knox inclining his head a bit and saying, "Right."

The doctor then focused his attention back on Ed, the atmosphere in the office noticeably darker and colder than it was before. After a few minutes and some various, miscellaneous medical instruments later, Knox finished up the examination. The gruff-looking doctor then proceeded to quickly pack up his tools and snap the case shut.

Turning around to face the gathered team (and Alphonse) he said bluntly, "He'll live."

Relief washed over everyone in the room with those two words, and some of the tension eased from everyone's shoulders. Knox, however, wasn't done yet, "But there are some obvious changes—both physically and most likely mentally as well."

There was only silence in response to that comment for a moment before Fuery hesitantly replied, "What do you mean, doctor?"

Knox sent a half-bored glance at Kain before sighing and asking, "Do any of you know anything at all about birds?"

Confused looks became present on everyone's faces—somehow Alphonse managed to look confused as well, granted no one knew how or bothered to question it—and Knox sighed somberly yet again.

Then, Knox looked up and met the confused looks of the team and Al and said seriously, "I'm a doctor for humans, you should all know that, and so I don't know much about animals…" here the man sent a sideways glance at the wings poking out from underneath Edward, "…But I do know a decent amount."

Knox paused in his monologue for a moment and lifted Ed up off of the couch so that he was now in a sitting position and asked, "Could someone hold him like this for a second?" Al quickly obliged, gently taking hold of Edward's shoulders and holding his unconscious form upright. Knox then grabbed one of Ed's wings and continued brusquely, "I think that it's fairly obvious and safe to say that Edward is now a chimera fused with some type of bird. Which bird, exactly, I don't know—you'll probably have to ask him that yourselves once he wakes up.

"Also, if you look here—" Knox let go of the wing and grabbed Ed's flesh arm, extending it for everyone to see, "—the bones appear to be thinner and lighter, most likely for enabling flight." Setting the arm down, he moved to Edward's legs and pointed out something that should've been obvious beforehand, "He also seems to have grown taller by an inch or so, judging by the difference in distance from the automail and flesh legs."

Mustang smirked slightly at this, good-naturedly jeering something that sounded like, "Oh, Fullmetal is going to be absolutely _ecstatic_ to hear that…"

Pretending to not to hear the Colonel's comment, Knox continued, "I'm also assuming that this boy wasn't originally this skinny before whatever happened to him, nor was he sick, right?"

In response to that question, Alphonse tore his gaze away from his brother and locked his red soul fire eyes with Knox. Al then asked, concern lacing his every word, "How sick is he?"

Knox considered the question for a moment before saying soberly, "Not very. Based on Edward's core temperature at the moment and the affects it's inflicting upon his new body, I'd say that he just has a slight fever. Currently his temperature is 106.5 degrees—" Alphonse looked like he was about to interject but Knox shushed him before he could, "—which, from my deductions, is probably only around 2 or so degrees above normal. He is also suffering from slight dehydration and malnutrition."

Al looked back to his brother, then, with a look that practically screamed, '_how did you manage to do this to yourself?'_. At the same time, Mustang asked levelly, "So what do you suggest we do to help Fullmetal?"

Knox stood and said, "An icepack should suffice to bring down his temperature, and water would probably help too. Once he wakes up you should make sure that he eats something, but not too much at once—his body might reject it and throw it up. Also, he might need some mental help depending on what that… animal has done to his mind."

Roy nodded stiffly before saying seriously, "I expect that you honor our former comradeship in Ishval and not tell anyone about this, Knox."

Knox made a disgusted sound as he started walking toward the door, "Of course—patient confidentiality. Make sure you take care of that boy, Mustang."

Just before he left, however, the doctor had one last thing to say, "Though, I might be more concerned about yourselves than the boy. I suggest that you all be careful." And then he left the office, leaving Mustang's team along with Al to worry about Ed, and what would happen once he woke up.

Roy was personally hoping that Edward would wake up soon, if only to answer his and his team's questions, namely—_'How in the world did you manage to screw yourself up so badly this time, Fullmetal?'_

* * *

Meanwhile, inside of Ed's head, the Fullmetal Alchemist was currently in a state of internal conflict—literally.

"What the hell are you doing in my head?!" an irate Edward Elric spit out angrily, his rage directed at the only other entity currently floating around the expanse of his mind.

The other being turned to the eldest Elric brother, then, and glared with such intensity that Ed actually took a step back before remembering himself and stubbornly stepping forward again, meeting the glare with one of his own. Yellow eyes sliced unforgiving into Ed's own gold ones for a moment more before the entity said, "What do you mean 'your head'? I think that you're currently the one invading _my_ mind, my friend."

Edward spluttered at that, incredulous. Who did this thing think he was? "What are you talking about? Who even are you?!"

The thing sighed and replied, "What do I look like, genius?"

In response to that answer, Ed considered the being in front of him for a moment before saying accusingly, "You… you're not even human! But that doesn't make sense… how can I even be talking to you right now if you aren't a person?"

The thing—which was, in reality, a snowy owl—sighed again and muttered, "Have you forgotten where we are? We're in the same brain; of course we can talk to each other. Ever heard of telepathy? It's kind of like that."

Edward then calmed down, if only by a little bit. Then, he walked over to the owl to get closer to him, and once he was right in front of the snowy, Ed asked, "You said we were in a brain… somehow, the same one. How is that possible?"

The snowy considered for a moment before saying, "Does the word chimera mean anything to you?"

Ed froze at the word, staring down in horror at the bird in front of him. Before Edward could deny it, however, the owl said, "I see you know what they are… that certainly makes things easier." The bird paused for a moment before continuing, "I'm sorry to tell you this, but I'm fairly certain that _we_ are now a chimera."

Edward continued to stare down at the bird, horror and disgust clearly etched onto his face. Words seemed to be miles away, far out of his reach once the reality and complications of what the owl said started to sink in.

Ed, however, didn't need words, for the snowy asked, probably to break the tension, "I'm ashamed to say I don't even know your name. Would you care to tell me it?"

Edward swallowed thickly, and considered for a moment. Should he really tell this thing his name? He didn't know much about it, or how it seemed to know a whole, heck of a lot about what was currently going on.

After a moment, however, Ed then said as cockily and with as much pride as he could considering the circumstances, "Edward Elric." After a moment he also added, "Human."

The owl tilted his head to the side as he absorbed the name, then he extended a wing and said, "Theodore. Snowy owl."

A bit shocked at both the gesture for what he assumed to be a 'hand shake' and the surprisingly human name, Ed hesitantly reached down and shook the wing.

For a moment there was silence before Ed asked, somewhat hesitantly, "How do you know so much about this?"

The owl's expression turned dark in response to that question and he said in a strained voice, "Lets just say... being one of Shou Tucker's test animals, no matter how horrifying and painful, has some advantages."

Theodore then looked up at the newly sickened and horrified Ed and said seriously, "I apologize for this, Edward. But I'd rather not be stuck in a cage again, no matter whether it's metaphorical or not."

After Theodore had said that, Ed felt a _push_, and was sent flying into a deep corner of his now shared mind. Despite just meeting the owl, Ed couldn't help but feel a bit betrayed as his consciousness receded and left the snowy owl in complete control of his body.

* * *

Back in the physical world, and on the other side of town, the boss was preparing to do a test run of the fairly simple device that the disgrace of a man Shou Tucker had managed to create before his well-justified death. The test of this object was critical to the boss' plan, and the man was sincerely hoping that the results would be satisfactory. He also hoped that everything would go as planned so that he would be able to move on to the next stage in his plan.

Reaching into the front pocket on his dark pants, the boss pulled out a long, complicated looking instrument. The musical device was really more of a complex whistle of sorts that could play a varying range of pitches and frequencies depending on what notch (or combination of notches) the boss held down while blowing into it. Once blown into, the high pitched sounds would travel across the entirety of Central and reach the ears of its intended targets.

The whistle was a remote control of sorts, really. A specific pitch equaled a certain action, and once heard the command would be carried out through anyone that had received it.

Well, that was the theory anyway.

To test the theory, the boss had walked from the hidden lab that was now splattered with the blood of chimeras like Ed as well as Shou alike, and had traveled to one of Central's many abandoned warehouse districts. Now that he was there, he was preparing to execute the test, first by getting the whistle and now by pulling out a slip of paper with the different commands on it.

The list wasn't very long—it had maybe seven or eight commands on it tops—but, at the moment, the boss only needed one of them.

Looking at the slip of paper in his hand for a moment, the boss memorized which keys to press to get the desired result, and then stuffed the paper into his pocket.

The boss then pressed his fingers down on the keys required and brought the silver instrument up to his lips. He hesitated for a moment, doing a quick scan of the surrounding, empty warehouse area for anyone that might be able to see him. Satisfied that there wasn't any unwanted, prying eyes around, the boss blew into the whistle and sent a wave of nearly silent, high pitches sound waves barreling down the streets of Central.

_"...Come..."_

* * *

**A/N: **I thought Roy was hard to write... PFFT. Mustang's a walk in the park compared to Knox, man. xP *Sigh* I guess it would have helped if I had actually seen an episode with him in it... but, me, the bad person that I am, hasn't even finished Brotherhood/the manga yet... so oh well. I hope that he's decent, at least. xP

Honestly, the only good part about this whole chapter was Theodore. And maybe the part with the boss. Seriously. *Face desk* Eh...

*Turns into the Gate and flies off* x'3

**Edit: **Lotrprincess brought up a good point in their review for this chapter; Theodore should be more animalistic (what is this, The Guardians of Ga'Hoole? [Darn, I think I've been figured out! xP]). I can see this, but I chose to portray him differently in front of Ed. Owls are smart, but they're also animals, so I assure you that Theo here will act like an animal come next chapter. Okay? Thanks. XD OR MAYBE, YOU SHOULD GO READ FLUE'S REVIEW. YUP. *Nods*

**Edit 2:** FLUE THIS IS WHY I LOVE YOU. Holy Hera, the IDEAS~! I... I think I love this chapter now, because of you. TAT


	7. Chapter VII: The Awakening

**A/N: **'Sup guys? I'm back, and better than ever! *Cough* ...Not. Sorry, but I'm still sick as a dog. In fact, that's probably the only reason this chapter is already done—I've been sick at home for two days straight with nothing to do but write and stress over what I'm missing in school. So, here's a thanks, I guess, to my... virus? xP

**IMPORTANT!: **M'kay, so, if you haven't read Fluehatraya's review, I'll try and explain my ideas for this whole chimera thing right now. Basically, I'm going with the 'they're one person' type of deal, but depending on the environment, catalysts, what's going on around them, etc., Teddy or Ed's personality will predominantly show. Does that make sense? I hope so.

Also, that whole mindscape thing was basically a giant—metaphor, maybe?—for what was going on inside Ed's head. Okay? Okay.

*Cough* So that means Teddy's personality will be the one that Ed wakes up with. *Cough* Tip: Teddy = Yellow. Ed = Gold.

Also #2, snowy owls do hiss. Snowy owls, or owls in general, hiss for a number of reasons—they're either hungry, angry, protecting something (their territory, their family, etc.), or they're telling you to back the heck off.

Now, enjoy! :D

* * *

**The Chimera City: Central HQ**

**Chapter VII: The Awakening**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. I do, however, own this story.

A Fullmetal Alchemist FanFiction By: The Rose Blue Prince

* * *

As Ed began to recede from the darkness of unconsciousness, he stirred slightly from his position on the couch and mumbled inaudibly under his breath. How long had he been out...? And why did he feel... _weird?_

Blinking his heavy, dull eyes open slowly, Ed's still sleep-numbed brain took a while to process what he was looking at.

Once he did, however, Edward's eyelids snapped open to reveal that his previously dulled eyes were now a wide, yellow-tinted hue. Staring at the unfamiliar ceiling above him, Ed felt an icy poison of dread begin to circulate through his body. The next thing to happen was that the chimera's breathing quickened and his heart rate sped up, both simultaneously, as he took in the fact that he, firstly, didn't know where he was and, secondly, could be in danger.

Turning his head to the left, he saw a bunch of people sitting or standing off to the side, all of which looked familiar to him but were also implacable at the same time. There was also a suit of what appeared to be armor standing close to him, its head faced toward the other people in the room, that seemed eerily familiar to Edward—even more so than the rest.

He shrugged the strange feeling off for the moment, however, deciding that getting away from these people that could potentially hurt him rather than staying and risking his life trying to find out their motives would be the wiser decision.

That thought firmly in mind, Ed began to slowly and as nonchalantly as possible shift into a sitting position and then swing his legs over the side of the—couch?—he had previously been lying on. What the blond didn't expect, however, was that one of his legs would make a loud _thump _noise once it hit the carpet.

The noise, like the people gathered in the room, rang familiar in his mind, and it took Edward a moment before he was able to place it.

Metal. His leg was metal.

How did that happen…? He couldn't remember, and honestly didn't care very much at the moment. All Ed knew was that he needed to get out of here, _now_, lest he be caught by these people and get trapped behind the unforgiving steel bars of a cage.

With that, he slowly stood up and let out a silent breath of relief at the fact that the people hadn't seemed to have noticed him yet. That was good, now all he had to do was—

Edward froze when one of the people looked over at him from where they were sitting at a table, playing cards. The blond haired man with a strange white stick in his mouth spluttered, "Chief? What are you doing? When did you—?"

The man never finished his sentence however, for at that moment, Ed felt something that he knew he'd only felt a handful of times before in his life; fear. Cold, unforgiving, and unadulterated fear sliced like the sharpest and most polished of knives through his heart at that moment, and he did that first thing that his brain told him to—something out of pure, raw instinct.

Edward jumped and flipped backward, landing perfectly on the back of the couch he had previously been resting on as his eyes flashed a brighter yellow hue. Then, his wings, which had been previously resting against his back, unfurled to their full width behind him, making the blond alchemist appear both larger and more intimidating.

If these people were going to put up a fight, Edward was sure as hell going to give them one.

Ed's incredible feat of acrobatics had taken place over the span of around three seconds, but everyone else in the room, including the strange suit of armor, had managed to lock their eyes on him. Their expressions ranged from shocked to confused to worried, the last of which had Edward himself a bit confused.

Why were they worried about him…?

Before Ed could delve into that question further, however, one of the people spoke. This one was male and had raven black hair, a serious and yet slightly worried look on his face as he spoke levelly, "Fullmetal, get off of the couch."

In response to that statement, which honestly sounded more like an order, Ed hissed at the man, sending a glare of yellow fire at him. Though, despite this vitriolic reaction, Edward was quite honestly curious about that could-be name the man had said… 'Fullmetal'…

Why did that sound _so familiar?_

Why was everything so achingly familiar, and yet just out of reach? It was like he was standing in the middle of a gusting snowstorm, the only source of warmth being a small flame just ahead of him. And yet, every time he reached out to grab a hold of it, it skirted further away from him, evading his grasp.

It was infuriating and intriguing at the same time.

Ed was brought out of his inner thoughts, however, when suddenly the suit of armor took a step toward him, its metal feet thumping loudly against the floor of the room, which, upon further inspection, appeared to be an office. To Edward's surprise, the armor then said soothingly, "It's okay, Brother. We won't hurt you."

Edward's head snapped to the metal suit, then, and his yellow eyes looked critically over it.

That tone… that _voice_…

The memory was so close Ed could almost taste it, and yet it continued to valiantly remain stubbornly out of reach. Yet, at the same time, despite not knowing whether this… thing… was trustworthy or not, Ed wanted so badly to believe him. He wanted to take solace in the nice words and the shockingly soft tones of the armor and let his guard down.

But, he couldn't. Not yet. That was a mistake that only an inexperienced man would make, and it would surely seal his fate. Edward wasn't prepared to trust the armor yet.

Ed then asked a simple question, his piercing yellow gaze still trained on the armor, "How do I know... I can trust you?"

A deafening silence resonated throughout the room at that, and everyone stilled. For some reason, they couldn't seem to grasp why Ed would ask such a question. Almost as if he was already established with these people, already expected to trust them…

But how could that be?

The familiarity he had been feeling brushed against him once more as Ed looked around the room and took in everyone's faces again. If he could just grab a hold of _something_ then maybe things would start to make sense…

Suddenly, though, the armor took another step toward him, this time a bit hesitantly. Edward tensed but let it get closer to him, even when he wasn't entirely sure why. There was just something about the armor, something he couldn't place and yet was unforgettable at the same time.

The armor was now right in front of him, subsequently blocking Ed's view of the other people in the room. He felt a little uncomfortable about that, and so Edward shifted his perched position on the couch so that he could see everyone again. Couldn't let them better him while his back was turned, after all.

Looking toward the armor again, it looked like it wanted to rush over to him and make sure he was alright. Instead of doing that, however, it asked, metallic voice laced with concern, "Are you feeling alright, Brother? You're shaking."

At that, Ed looked down at himself and saw that the armor was right. He _was_ shaking. He was also covered with half-bandaged cuts and was pale as a sheet, as well as coated in a cold sweat. Upon further self-inspection he also seemed to have a small headache, and his skin felt like it was freezing.

How had he not noticed all of that before?

Looking back up at the armor, Ed warily replied, "I…"

However, before Edward finished his sentence, he realized something that froze him to his very core.

The armor had called him 'brother'. Twice.

That word… it was _special, _Ed knew. And, finally, _finally_, something started to clear in the murky waters of his muddled mind.

Ed blinked, then, and a slightly confused look entered his eyes as they faded slightly from their former, sharp yellow to a dull gold. Then, Edward asked, uncertain, "Brother… Al… Alphonse?"

Everyone in the room held their breath for a moment, waiting to see how Al would react to that. After a moment, Alphonse did.

Reminded painfully of Nina, Al said in a voice that sounded as if he were holding back tears, "Yeah, that's me, Ed."

Only then did Edward relax his previously offensive attack stance on the couch, letting his wings and shoulders droop as he realized that his previous feeling had been correct. He could trust this armor—this person—

_His brother. _He could trust his brother—that, he knew for certain.

Seeing Ed's change in position from on edge to relaxed, the team began to slowly make their way over to the blond alchemist. They didn't end up getting very far, however. Out of the corner of his eye, Edward saw the team's collective, silent movements and perceived them reasonably as a threat.

Jumping off of the couch before so much as a breath was taken, Ed landed in front of Alphonse, eyes flashing back to the unsettling yellow as he hissed a warning at the team.

_Don't come any closer!_

The message was clear, and the team halted in their advance immediately. Taking in the sight of the wild looking elder Elric brother, all of the team felt a sense of dread. His wings were out again, seemingly shielding the younger Elric from the team as he bared his teeth and snarled at them. A yellow death glare was also fixed on the collective team, sending shivers up their spines.

What had happened?

While the team may not understand, Ed, however, knew perfectly well what had just happened. Those people didn't have any reason to get one step closer to him, and yet they took numerous steps in his direction—toward both him and Alphonse. They could be a threat, and if they were, then he wasn't going to let anyone hurt him, let alone his brother.

The glare died in Ed's eyes, however, when he felt an armored hand gently grab his shoulder. Blinking in confusion, the chimera looked over his shoulder and looked into Al's glowing red eyes, wondering what was wrong. Was he okay? Was he hurt?

"Stop it. It's okay, they're our friends, Brother." Came Al's soft, if a little bit strained, reprimanding tones as he stared down at Edward.

Ed continued to look at Alphonse for awhile more before he finally, albeit reluctantly, calmed down once more. Folding his wings against his back, the chimera relaxed his stance and sent a distrustful, now golden-eyed, glance at the still-frozen people in front of him.

Looking at the raven haired man specifically Ed made a little _pfft_ noise and harrumphed, sticking his tongue out at him in a blatant show of disrespect that made it obvious he wouldn't be being this nice to him if Al had not told him to be.

The man simply raised an eyebrow in response, an amused smirk creeping onto his face as something akin to hope sparked in his dark eyes. Why the man looked hopeful was beyond Edward, but the blond chose to ignore it for the moment despite his curiosity.

Al's hand left his shoulder, then, and Edward turned away from the man to face his brother yet again. Al looked like he was about to say something when suddenly Ed's eyes widened and he screamed, his hands clapping over his ears so fast that his arms only looked like blurs. Then he scrunched his eyes shut and started shaking—even worse than he was before.

"_Come… come… come… come…"_

The high pitched mantra rang out loudly in Ed's mind as it coiled around his body, seeming to suffocate him with its intensity. Without him telling them to, his legs began stumbling in the direction of the door, unconsciously following the command.

The blond didn't get very far however, for before he even managed to take three total steps in the direction the piercing sound was guiding him to, Ed felt two pairs of hands holding him back—one pair for each of his arms.

Prying his eyes open and looking to his right, he saw Alphonse looking at him with a somehow frantic expression that screamed, _'what's wrong?'_. His left arm was being restrained by the man with black hair, who had somehow managed to cross the remaining distance between them when Edward hadn't been paying attention.

The harsh noise still continuing to ring painfully in his ears, Ed tried to rip his arms away from the two people restraining him. That attempt wasn't very successful, however, since Edward's hands were still pressed firmly over his ears in a feeble attempt to block out the shrill noise.

The chimera's struggling went on for a few minutes, the man and Alphonse holding on to him valiantly throughout it all, when Ed suddenly stopped, and his eyes widened to the size of saucers.

He stood there, frozen, like that for several moments before the raven haired man asked, voice shaking the slightest bit, "Fullmetal, what the hell was that?!"

Everyone stood, staring at Edward with scared and worried expressions. They had no idea what had just happened, and wanted to be informed of it. _Now._

"You… didn't hear that?" Ed said slowly, looking at Alphonse worriedly.

The raven haired man, however, wasn't going to accept being ignored. He grabbed Ed's shoulders harshly and turned him around so that he was looking at him before saying seriously, "Tell me what just happened, Fullmetal. That's an order."

Edward simply blinked, surprised and confused at being flipped around so quickly. Once he took in the man's face however, he scowled and smacked the hands gripping his shoulders away. Then he redirected his gaze to the floor, and muttered, confused and slightly angry at the same time, "Who is this 'Fullmetal'? Don't know what you're talking about…"

The dark eyed man appeared to be shocked into silence for a moment by this response. After a moment, however, he reached out a hand, more gently that before, and lifted Edward's chin so that he could look him in the eyes as he said slowly, "_You _are Fullmetal, Edward."

The man let that sink in for a second before continuing with, "And you are also my subordinate. I'm Colonel Roy Mustang."

Once the name had been said, Ed felt another puzzle piece fall into place, and he remembered why the man seemed so familiar.

…Colonel Mustang…

Ed smacked Roy's hand away for the second time, then, this time while muttering what sounded suspiciously like, "Bastard…"

At that comment, the Colonel smirked slightly. Roy then said carefully, for he was still a bit worried about Ed lashing out and hissing at him again, "Will you tell me what happened now?"

Edward was hesitant, unsure whether or not he should tell the Colonel. No one else seemed to hear the noise so, maybe, he was just hearing things…?

However, Ed made up his mind when he heard Alphonse plead, "Please, Brother?"

Ed couldn't say no to that tone, he knew, and so he didn't even try. The chimera sighed, glanced at all of the other people in the room, and said, embarrassed, "I heard… a noise…"

Mustang raised an eyebrow and a metaphorical question mark seemed to appear over Al's helmet. Did he just say what they think he said?

Humorlessly, Roy asked, "What noise did you hear, Fullmetal?"

Ed seemed to consider the question, his eyebrows furrowing as he thought about it. Then he said slowly, "Whistle… or flute, maybe."

The Colonel and the younger Elric shared a look. They hadn't heard anything… and why would a musical instrument make Edward scream…?

Their question was answered for them, however, when Ed continued, "Loud… very loud. Said 'come'. Don't know what that means…"

Mustang's dark eyes widened a fraction at that, and Al looked concernedly at Ed. That couldn't mean anything good…

Suddenly, however, a lower ranking officer burst in the room, and Al, thinking fast, jumped in front of Ed before the chimera could go on the offensive again.

The officer, presumably a lower rank than Fuery, thrust a report into Mustang's hands and saluted, breathlessly spluttering out before he left in a rush, "Newest report on the chimera situation, sir!"

Once he was gone, Havoc walked over to the opened door to Mustang's office and shut it wordlessly, looking to the Colonel once he was done. Then the smoker asked, "What do you think that was all about?"

Mustang didn't reply, however, as he was busy quickly scanning the report. Once he finished he muttered a few choice words about the higher ups in the military and turned back toward Ed and Al, looking specifically at Edward as he asked, "You're sure that the noise said 'come', Fullmetal?"

Silently, Ed nodded, stepping out from behind Al and looking curiously at the report in Mustang's hands. Then he asked, "What does that say?"

Roy glanced at the report for a second before replying, "Apparently the chimeras have moved. They're now all gathered at an abandoned warehouse district near the edge of the city."

Ed furrowed his eyebrows, blinking confusedly as Mustang went back to scanning the report again. One of those words… sounded familiar… "…Chimeras?"

The Colonel looked up from the report, and, upon taking in Ed's confused face, set the paper down slowly. He then said, a strange look in his eye, "Yes. Chimeras."

There was silence at that, the stillness so full and complete that it permeated throughout the entire room.

Ed started shaking again, then, and broke the silence as he whispered in horror, eyes directed at the floor, "There was… an owl…" he swallowed thickly before looking up at Mustang, eyes yellow once again, "Does that mean… I'm… a chimera…?"

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, a large group of chimeras had gathered in the middle of an abandoned warehouse district. None of them knew exactly what they were doing there, but they were there, nonetheless.

Eventually, after a few minutes of awkward silence, they all eventually just figured that they had been at a party of sorts, and either went home or stayed to start conversing with each other.

As the masses spoke of their various animal parts and how trendy Chimerism had become, however, they remained unaware of the fact that they were all currently causing quiet the uproar at Central Command.

On top of the roof of a building a few blocks away, the boss smirked. The test had been successful. And now that he had both the chimeras and a way to control them…

Next up was phase three…

* * *

**A/N: **...See? I told you it would be better. XD *Cough* Okay, so, first off; yeah, I know Ed's dialogue is short, and extremely simplified. I did that on purpose. Obviously, he's a chimera now, and, similar to Nina, his speech takes a blow (though it's still better than Nina's). It will /eventually/ get better, because he's both a more advanced type of chimera than Nina and... he's Ed. Come on, we all know him. XD Same deal with the memories thing—though that's mainly due to a combination of stress (on his body and mind), fear (from both Teddy and Ed), and having an animal that knows absolutely nothing about him be fused into his brain. The memories are still there, obviously, but they'll take awhile to come back.

I hope that made things make sense. :3

As always, thanks for reading, and comments/reviews make my day and make me feel better, so I'd appreciate it if you left one. :3 *Turns into the Gate/Giratina and flies away*

Next chapter: _The Consequences_. See you next time! ;D


	8. Chapter VIII: The Consequences

**A/N: **Guys... I actually like this chapter. *Falls over dead* I hardly (if ever) say that about my own writing. Also, you should probably be warned that the high-and-mighty "feels" are quite strong in this one.

...I'm not sure whether or not you should be worried or excited based on that. *Shrug* Eh, take it as you may, I suppose.

Enjoy.

* * *

**The Chimera City: Central HQ**

**Chapter VIII: The Consequences**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. I do, however, own this story.

A Fullmetal Alchemist FanFiction By: The Rose Blue Prince

* * *

Standing stock still, everyone's eyes on him, Edward continued to tremble and shake. He couldn't believe it… could this really be happening…?

Was he really… a _monster?_

The air seemed to thicken, then, filling with clouds of dust and chunks of miscellaneous debris, making Ed feel like he was suffocating, choking, struggling desperately to breathe. A furious, sharp-eyed basilisk coiled around his prone form hungrily, then, sinking its gleaming, pearly fangs into his flesh and filling him with its deadly toxin.

As the poison spread throughout him, Edward felt his wings begin spread open, slicing like a duo of twin, glittering knives through the office's thick air.

_Monster… monster… monster… monster…_

The word echoed relentlessly in his head, slamming against the walls of his mind with a merciless ferocity. Ed knew, however, that, no matter how hotly he may deny it, it was true.

It was true… and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.

And that was perhaps the most painful thing that he was forced to face as he began to drown in the white hot flames of this horrid, nightmarish new reality.

Despite the fact that his wings—_You're a monster!—_were now open, Ed felt like he was falling, falling, falling down into an abyss shrouded in unforgiving, oppressing darkness. Horrendous visions—memories—of mutilated, broken freaks shoved carelessly into the numerous cold cages that littered the expanse of Tucker's basement laboratory flashed before his eyes.

Was that where he belonged now? Stowed away, forgotten, in a cage somewhere? Was he just like all of those other poor chimeras; broken and anomalous in every way?

Suddenly, though, there was a hand reaching out to him, appearing through the realm of darkness that had begun to creep in around him, swallowing him, like a lone match gleaming brightly in the dark. Steel shined in front of Ed, and he looked up desperately at the armored hand in front of him, then.

Al's eyes, glowing like red rubies, met Ed's own, which were mirroring the caramelized yellow of burned sugar. Then, after a moment's contemplation, Edward took the offered hand, clinging to it as if it was the last spark of light in the creeping darkness surrounding him.

The cool, smooth leather palm of his brother's armored hand helped to drag Ed from the inner depths of his hellish thoughts, acting as an anchor to the real world. It managed to save him from spiraling downward into the nightmare realm he'd previously been crashing into, if only for a moment.

Alphonse closed his strong hand over Edward's small, shaking one, then, somehow knowing that by doing so he'd be acting as the one thing his brother needed the most at the moment—a stable source of support. And, what was more, something that was _real_.

And Al was most definitely real, Ed knew.

No matter how much time passed or how many times the scenery shifted around them, Edward knew that there was one thing that would never change; and that was that he and his brother were there for each other, always.

Similarly, Al knew that he would be damned the day that it wasn't he who would be there to act as an immovable pillar of support and care for his brother.

Upon realizing this, Ed's shaking died down a bit and he was pulled up completely from the cavern of hopeless darkness, soaking up the comfort offered by the simple, heartwarming gesture of his brother's hand that was now encompassing his own for all it was worth.

Almost physically feeling the former hopelessness and desperation fade slowly, then, to a greyer version of its former intensity, Edward took a deep breath as he stared at his and Al's joined hands.

And another. And another.

Everyone in the room held their own breaths collectively as they let Ed compose himself. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Edward was actually the elder brother whilst Alphonse was the younger. With everything they did for each other, it was almost as if they were conjoined twins linked at the hip—each knew the other as clearly and perfectly as the back of their own hands.

However, age was rendered unimportant now. All that was important was being openly expressed at the moment—the simple fact that the two Elrics were there for each other no matter what the circumstance or situation, and, in the end, that was what truly mattered.

Finally, Ed managed to pull himself together a decent amount, though a slimy tendril of the former darkness that had previously plagued him still continued to stubbornly remain in his mind. The chimera did his best to push it away and ignore it for the moment, though.

He looked up at Alphonse, then, an unspoken _'thank you'_ shining within the now dull gold of his eyes. Al simply smiled a hidden, somewhat strained, smile that Ed seemed to always somehow see in response.

Carefully controlling his metallic voice, Al then asked, concern lacing his every word, "Are you alright now, Brother?"

Wings folding silently back into their resting place on his back, Ed considered the question for a moment before redirecting his gaze toward the office floor and nodding mutely in response.

Somehow, on top of everything else that had happened over the course of this impossibly long day, Ed's reaction to his question managed to shock Alphonse the most. It honestly scared the younger Elric, for he knew that Ed was never usually silent—or silent at all, _ever_.

What had happened to the cocky, unstoppable, pride-filled older brother Alphonse had known his whole life? Surely not even being turned into a chimera could break the cold, strong Edward Elric?

The very earth seemed to shift slightly beneath Alphonse's feet, then, at that horrifying possibility. The sun darkened, and the only North Star he'd ever known seemed to be standing, dimmed beyond recognition in front of him.

Al needed his older brother just as much as Ed needed him, and so the possibility that Edward may not be Edward anymore was frightening for Alphonse.

Horrifying, even.

Bringing himself forcefully out of those scary thoughts, Al looked to the shadow of his brother standing in front of him. Worry ever increasing, Al slowly began to walk over toward the couch, and Ed, whose hand was still clinging to Alphonse's, trailed numbly after him. Trying to ignore the creaking noise the furniture made when he put his immense wait on it, Al sat down on the couch while coaxing Edward into doing the same.

They sat there, silent, for awhile, everyone else in the room staying respectfully quiet. The silence was broken, however, when Ed muttered slowly, self-disgust lacing his every word, "I'm a monster… You don't… have to stay…"

Edward could practically feel the heat of the glare he was currently receiving from Al in response to that comment. Alphonse then replied seriously, conviction and a desperate sense of power backing his voice, "Don't you ever say that again, Brother." Al paused for a moment before continuing in a softer tone, the glare falling from his unchanging features as he looked at his brother, "You are _not_ a monster, Ed. No matter what happens to you, you'll always _you_. Nothing—_nothing_—could ever change the infamous Edward Elric."

Though Alphonse said that last statement mostly to reassure himself, he meant—and thoroughly believed—every word of it. Al knew his brother better than anyone, possibly even better than Ed himself, after all.

Edward cracked a small smile at Al's words, then, and leaned back slightly into the soft cushions of the couch, hand still grasping Alphonse's. Though, the desperation in the clingy action had died down a considerable amount. Now Ed was mostly still holding his brother's hand for the basic need to know that he was just still _there_.

Alphonse, on the other hand, automatically saw the minute change in Ed's posture, and, after years of practice by looking after Edward, knew what the action implied.

_It has been a long day, after all…_

Knowing what to do, then, Al suggested softly to Ed, "You can rest for a bit if you'd like to, Brother."

Edward's eyes flicked over to the people in the room he still wasn't entirely sure about yet for a moment before looking toward Alphonse as he replied warily, "I don't know…"

Mustang then came out of his previously quiet observations by suggesting nonchalantly, "My team and I could leave if it would make you feel more comfortable, Fullmetal."

Ed blinked at that, unsure of whether or not the Colonel was telling the truth.

Did he really mean that...? Wasn't he supposed to be an arrogant, pompous jerk? Why wasn't he being the bastard that Ed remembered…?

_Why did he care?_

Unable to reach an answer to the lattermost question, however, the chimera simply nodded as a slight apprehension became visible in his eyes.

Was this all just a trick?

That possibility was rendered implausible, however, when Mustang nodded slightly back, motioned for his team to follow him, and then left the office, thus leaving only Edward and Alphonse sitting there on the couch, alone.

However, just before he shut the door the Colonel added smugly, though subtle underlying tones revealed it to be more forced and mean more than originally interpreted, "Try not to break anything while we're gone, Fullmetal." And then he was gone.

After a few moments of semi-awkward silence, Ed chuckled softly, a spark of his old self flashing in his golden eyes at what he took as an almost-challenge for a moment. Then Edward turned to Al and said, "Ya know… I am kind of tired…"

Upon seeing the small, lopsided half-smile on his brother's face, if Al could have smiled back if he most definitely would have at that moment.

Such an Ed-like thing to say… it was an immense relief for Alphonse to hear, to say the least, after the scare he had had earlier concerning Ed and his personality. Even despite the fact that it mirrored the same haunting, halting speech that Nina had used once she had been fused with Alexander the words and tone they were said in brought a seemingly foreign hope to Alphonse.

The Edward that Al knew wasn't gone, he was still there…

Alphonse may just have to do a bit of nudging in the right direction to get his brother's golden colors to burn and brightly burst once again.

Finally letting go of Al's hand, Ed repositioned himself on the couch so that he was now leaning against the cool metal of Alphonse's steel arm, his feet propped up on the edge of the couch. Then the chimera mumbled contentedly, eyes already slipping closed, "Cold… feels good."

With that, the chimera was out like an over exhausted light. At the same time, Al remembered as he turned his head to look at his now sound asleep brother that Dr. Knox had said that he had a fever. Briefly, Alphonse felt his worry spike yet again when he remembered what else the doctor had said—he'd need water and food once he woke up, and he also has fever along with being a little sick—but was put slightly at ease when he saw what Ed did next.

Edward's metal hand moved and slipped under his shirt, pulling up the torn and bloodied fabric in the process and exposing the slightly tanned skin of his stomach underneath.

Shaking his head slightly, Alphonse wondered whether or not Ed would ever sleep like a normal person.

* * *

A little bit later, Mustang poked his head back into his inner office, opening the door as quietly as possible. Once the Colonel deemed that it was okay to enter, he waved the rest of his team over to follow him as he walked into the now quiet room.

Somewhat surprisingly, the first thing that Roy noticed was the fact that the view of the city's skyline out of the many windows in his office had almost gone completely dark. The only visible lights that were currently coming from the silent city below were those that were either the flickering yellow streetlights or the dim lights contained within the various buildings scattered throughout Central.

Could all of this madness really have happened within the course of the same day…?

Looking toward the Elric brothers, then, Mustang was even more shocked to see a sight that he thought that, after all of the horror-filled discoveries of today, he would never see again.

And that was Fullmetal… actually looking like himself.

His mismatched feet propped up carelessly on the arm of the couch that was facing the door as he leaned back against Alphonse, automail hand pushing up his torn shirt idly and thus exposing the tender skin underneath.

Al, who Mustang assumed was previously looking at his brother before he and his team had come in, was now looking up at Roy. The armor's nonexistent face seeming to say, _'Don't wake him up.'_

"It's almost as if nothing's changed…" mumbled Fuery quietly once he had entered the room and taken in the achingly familiar sight before him.

Mustang nodded silently, dark eyes still looking at the sleeping blond alchemist. Then, he walked over to Al, motioning to his team to stay behind and wait by the door. They obeyed, albeit a bit reluctantly.

Stopping right in front of Alphonse, Mustang then asked quietly, "How long has Fullmetal been out?"

In response, Al glanced at his brother before whispering, "He fell asleep right after you left, so maybe an hour or so."

Mustang nodded in response, having already figured as much.

Looking to Edward, then, the Colonel took in just how exhausted he looked—not a surprise, really, with all that he had assumed had happened to Edward, it was only logical that he'd be extremely tired.

But, still…

How _did_ Fullmetal manage to continue going on so strong—hell, the brat had almost _attacked_ them—when he'd almost been broken beyond repair in one day? It was a mystery to Mustang, one that he honestly wasn't sure whether or not he'd ever figure out.

Feeling Alphonse's gaze on him, then, Roy tore his gaze away from his youngest subordinate and looked to Al. Mustang simply stared at the younger Elric's expressionless face for a moment before he sighed. Then, speaking quietly, he asked as though he already knew the answer, "You can feel it too, can't you?"

Al stiffened at that before, a bit reluctantly, nodding the slightest amount. Then, Alphonse said softly as he sent a worried glance toward his brother, "He feels… _different_."

The Colonel nodded, dark eyes critically looking over the chimera. However, before Mustang could say anything in response to Al's statement, the younger Elric continued seriously, "But it's not the same as the other chimeras, either. It almost feels like… like…" Alphonse paused for a moment, seeming to collect himself before continuing, "…Like the Gate… but watered down, less intense, somehow."

Powerful, menacing, unknown, and the feeling of being balanced on the edge of a thousand-foot cliff, knowing that if you moved even a hair's width, you'd surely plummet off the edge and fall to the unforgiving earth below. That was what it felt like, and...

…It was most certainly a weird feeling, to say the least.

Taking that in for a second, Mustang then responded to that by curiously asking, almost as if to himself, "But, why? Why is Fullmetal different from all of the other chimeras in Central?"

Al shook his head, not having an answer for that question.

"I don't know." Said Alphonse, after a moment of silence—it was a mystery, one of the many arising from the events of today. Whether or not it would be answered neither of the alchemists knew.

Perhaps once Edward woke and was feeling decently better, he could provide the answers?

For the moment, though, both Roy and Alphonse were left in the dark, with nothing but their thoughts to stew over.

Over the course of a single day, the entire world seemed to shift beneath their feet, changing the realm of what they thought was possible entirely—even despite the fact that Mustang and Al had both seen their fair share of what most people deemed 'the impossible'.

It was almost too much to believe… and yet, they knew that it was all true. All of the horror and fear was true because of the simple fact that there was living, breathing proof right in front of them.

Edward Elric, alchemist extraordinaire, was more than enough proof to confirm that what had all happened today was very, very _real_.

And though they may not like it, the new reality was that the Fullmetal Alchemist was no longer what he was just this morning.

He was no longer entirely human.

Even though it was eating away at them inside—_they could have been there, they could have protected him!_—Mustang and Alphonse alike were both forced to accept it as cold, hard fact.

The Edward they knew—the teen that was hot headed and rash, who sought strength through his ideals and truths, the Ed who, without a doubt cared deeply for anyone that mattered to him—may not be entirely there anymore.

Though, that fact alone didn't by any means mean that they would _give up._ No. There was hope, there was drive, and, as many knew, Roy and Al alike weren't the types of people to quit when things got difficult.

Even if getting the Ed they knew to come back to them took a monumental effort, they would put that effort forth readily. See it as a challenge to be conquered, a hurdle to be jumped. Anything, _anything_, but the unexplored land of this unfamiliar new reality would be better than the uncharted areas they were trekking in now.

Back a few hours ago when Mustang and his team had left to search for Ed, he'd made a promise…

And Alphonse had even more recently made that same promise to himself…

They would bring their Edward back, and, despite the quiet, lingering whispers of _'this is hopeless'_ and _'monster'_ licking with a savage joy in the backs of their minds, they knew that they would do it. No matter what must be sacrificed or how long it would take, they would bring him back.

And something as trivial and clichéd as the fear of the unknown wasn't going to get in their way.

* * *

**A/N: **Well, there's that. Jeesh, when I started this little expedition I thought it would be a nice, happy little thing...

Some things just end up going in the COMPLETELY OPPOSITE direction of what you originally intend sometimes, I suppose. And it's only going to get worse from here... X'D *Cough* So that basically means my outline has been to hell and back recently *Cough*

...Why am I coughing? I'm all better now. No more sickness is plaguing Blue, thankfully. :'3

Heh. Also, I'm officially one year old on this site now, so *yay*. All the progress that I've made over this past year has been absolutely astonishing, and I probably wouldn't still be here if it weren't for you all. So, here's a thanks to everyone who's supported me; from the silent readers to the favoriters to the reviewers—thank you all. So much. (Yada yada yada, insert more sappy stuff here. XD)

As always, leave a comment if you'd please, the High Lord /*cough* not *cough*/ Giratina would love to know what you all think! :'3


	9. Chapter IX: The Alchemist

**A/N: **Hey, guys. Guys. I'm... I'm back. *Is slapped with a fish* No, seriously. I'm back and I have a new chapter for you all (finally, I know).

If you want to know the short reason of why this hasn't been updated in four some months, then I'll tell you. Life got bad. Like, really bad. But it's okay, 'cause I'm moving forward through the sludge anyways. (Ain't nothin' gonna stop me!) So, no, this story is not abandoned, nor will it ever be if I have anything to say about it. I fully intend to go all the way through and finish this, no matter what happens.

Also, I really want to thank all of my reviewers/watchers/favoriters/readers for sticking with me. I love all of you guys (platonically, maaaan). So thank you. :)

And now, after having pulled my hair out, been completely written, scrapped to rot for all of eternity in the dungeons of hell, painfully written again, nagged to the point of no return to FINISH THIS GOSH DARN THING by Ms. Flueminervus as well as my sister who is currently sleeping on my floor, and edited by yours truly, here is chapter nine of The Chimera City.

**WARNING!:** Feels ahead.

Enjoy.

(Also, I lied about this being called 'The Monster'. HEHE OH WELL.)

* * *

**The Chimera City: Central HQ**

**Chapter IX: The Alchemist**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. I do, however, own a bird (and this story).

A Fullmetal Alchemist FanFiction By: The Rose Blue Prince

* * *

There was a quiet air about Colonel Mustang's office while Edward slept. No words were exchanged, for none were needed nor were there any to say. The only ongoing activity that had taken place since the blond alchemist had fallen asleep was a simple, half-hearted game of cards between the other military men in the office, sans Hawkeye.

The Lieutenant never was one for taking a gamble, after all.

No one minded the silence all that much, however. They all had their own personal thoughts to stew over, and if anything found the lack of communication or other such noises a good thing.

This held especially true for Alphonse, whose mind hadn't stopped reeling since he had been reunited with his brother hours ago. The younger Elric also found it preferable that Ed remained asleep, because he knew firsthand that the short alchemist didn't get enough sleep normally anyway. And with all that had happened recently…

Well, Al was certain that Edward would need more rest than he normally would, despite not knowing the exact extent of the damage inflicted on his brother.

_It must have been some hell for him to come back like _this_, that's for sure…_

It was this same thing, though, that was driving him slightly crazy. Not knowing was something that the younger Elric wasn't very used to and he didn't like the uncertainty that came with it. It was maddening, and it made him feel like he was playing a losing game. Actually, it reminded him of when he played with Ed while they rode the train together, only Al knew for certain that he was going to lose then—his brother always was a cheater when it came to things like card games, and Edward hated to lose even more than he did.

_So, then, the question was why—and how—did he manage to not get out of this? How could he lose this time, when he had always managed to somehow escape in the past…?_

The fourteen year old didn't know. _He didn't know—he had no clue—not one idea as to how—_

But, he wanted to. Alphonse wanted to know what had happened. He wanted to know very badly. It was true that Al would always accept his older brother, no matter what should happen to him, or how badly he would manage to screw up…

…However, that still didn't stop the soul-bound armor that was now Alphonse Elric from craving the knowledge of what exactly had happened to his older brother.

He was a scientist, after all. Both of them were. It was in their nature; an intrinsic trait that followed closely behind a clichéd white lab coat and the customary pair of thick, flashing spectacles.

The thirst for knowledge was something that no true scientist could ever hope to escape, and neither Elric brother was an exception. Though, despite the both of them having consumed more of this very same knowledge than anyone would have ever dreamed possible for two teenage boys, there was _always_ more to learn.

Whether they would actually want to pursue something or not was the question.

It was true that the Elrics had come across the difficult, and arguably depraved, chimera alchemy during their ongoing quest to restore their bodies. However, it was also true that neither brother would ever want to pursue it.

After all, they had been given more than enough reasons to not delve into it too deeply, if at all. It was focused around a disturbing concept, chimera alchemy. Heavy implications undoubtedly followed that of what creating a chimera meant, and neither Elric was all that enthusiastic to get involved with something like that. Not only did they have other, more important things to worry about but also because…

_Fusing two unlike creatures unwillingly into one body…_

It was horrifying enough to just think about, let alone actually _do_. Al could remember stumbling across an odd book during one of his many late-night alchemy cram sessions and reading a bit about chimeras. In fact, the cat lover could clearly see in his mind's eye the words he had read that night.

They said, in nothing but the frank style only the most stringent of research novels could manage to pull off, that the newly born chimera felt pain—

_Bone-shattering, back-breaking, breath-snatching pain…_

—and that they never ended up living very long after the transmutation had been completed.

(If they even managed to survive the initial process in the first place, that is.)

Though frightening as that was, it was true. Both Ed and Al knew this—they had seen with their own eyes the grotesque results of Shou Tucker's experiments, locked up in cages in the psychotic man's basement, once upon a time…

So, why did the hot-tempered Fullmetal Alchemist appear to be perfectly fine? Noticeably different in a variety of ways, yes, but still fine in the sense of he didn't appear to be about to die at the drop of a hat. And, other than the obvious fatigue, Ed didn't appear to be in any major pain either.

This was another one of the many pressing questions on Alphonse's mind.

It wasn't that Al wasn't grateful that his brother hadn't been turned into something similar to Nina, but _why?_ _How?_

Where was the difference? Was it more advanced alchemy? Or perhaps a different technique altogether was used on Ed?

The questions, loud and demanding, banged around relentlessly inside Alphonse's head. Swirling, swirling, swirling, around and around and around, they formed something of a twisted, screeching mantra.

…_Why?_

…_Where was the equivalence?_

Everything that Ed had been through in his lifetime so far could be classified as a tragedy. Sure, there were _some_ good things sprinkled in there, but his—and by extension, Al's—life could be collectively seen as one big horror story.

The bad outweighed the good.

The heartbreak overshadowed the happiness.

The desolation, desperation, and despair out spoke the laughter, smiles, and euphoria.

_They had both had to grow up so fast… neither was ever privileged with the childhood and carefree aspects that came with youth._

They were thrown into a grey world, full of terror and ugly things like war and hunger. It was a world that no child should ever have to see, and yet they were dumped into it headfirst, unwilling.

True, both Elric brothers were—somehow—able to survive in this hellish world of washed-out color. They were special. Touched by the Gate and skilled in everything from alchemy to fighting, Ed and Al simply were not normal children.

They were _more_.

…But still, was that an equivalent trade? Alphonse didn't think so.

Special? Yes. Gifted? It had been said. Extraordinary? Most definitely.

With all of the things they already were, it seemed almost fitting—

_Ironically, bitterly fitting…_

—that they, or more appropriately, Edward, would become even more special. Somehow.

_But why…?_

Back full circle once again, Al found himself not only wanting, but _needing_ and _craving_, to not only know why this happened, but how it happened and in what ways it affected his brother.

And then he was sickened at his own scientific mind, utterly appalled that he could even have considered for a second that his brother—his own brother!—could be used as some sort of twisted science experiment. Because, really, if Ed could now be classified as such, then what was he?

_Less than human…?_

Alphonse knew that scientists of all kinds would most likely have a field day if they ever got their latex-gloved hands on him. However, Al also knew that his brother would _never_ let that happen. The younger Elric could easily imagine his brother blowing up the entire lab of the scientists that would dare to lay even one rubbed finger on him, making the antiseptic-smelling building explosively transform into nothing more than a smoking crater in a fit of unstoppable rage.

(Those poor souls would never even know what hit them…)

Imagining that scenario—which was actually entirely plausible despite the fact that it would seem outlandish and unruly to anyone that didn't know the blond—play out in his head, Alphonse smiled inwardly. That was his brother, alright. No matter what the threat or how big and powerful it may be, the hot-tempered alchemist would always protect what he cared about.

_Always…_

If the display that Edward had put on earlier was any clue, it was clear that that particular trait hadn't changed in him, and for that Al was glad.

Turning his head a bit to glance down at his brother from where he was resting against his arm, the fourteen year old felt a burst of pride. To him, it didn't matter what happened to Ed; his brother would always push forward, and would never cease to persevere. It was his motto, after all.

Nothing had yet managed to break him, and Alphonse doubted that anything ever would. Edward was strong, and he had proved time and again that he rightfully deserved the title of "Fullmetal". He was the strongest person Al knew, and probably ever would know.

_He was stability—support—a beacon that shone through even the nastiest of storms…_

No matter what the circumstances were, Alphonse was sure that that would never change.

Suddenly a hallow sigh betrayed those thoughts when it echoed around the previously silent room.

That was unfair of him. If Al had learned anything in his fourteen years of walking the earth, it was that there was a limit to everything. Boundaries and ropes—or, in some cases, gates—twined around anything and everything that they could get their spindly little hands on.

Ed was no exception to this, despite how hotly he may deny it. The steel-woven threads that created these boundaries had themselves wrapped around him as well. He was human—if now only partly so—and that meant that he too could break if he pushed against those ropes too hard.

By now it was a wonder that he hadn't just… shattered.

Alphonse could quite honestly say that he had no idea what he'd do if his brother ever ended up doing so.

"—Hey. Hey, Al. You all right?"

The softly-spoken, yet still noticeably concerned words sliced through the previously silent room suddenly. The speaker, Havoc, was currently glancing toward the aforementioned suit of armor over the top of his—losing—hand of cards.

Hurled from his thoughts by the unexpected question, Al replied with a distracted, "Huh?"

The smoker raised a brow, "You okay? You haven't moved in hours."

After taking a moment to fully process Jean's words, and not missing how the other occupants in the office were now quietly listening in on their conversation, Alphonse said, "Yeah, I'm okay. Just thinking about Brother…"

After a beat of silence, Havoc suggested lightly, "Maybe you should take a break. You know, walk around a bit—"

"No."

There was a stony conviction behind that one word, and it was made immediately clear that the fourteen year old would most definitely _not_ be moving from his brother's side unless forcibly dragged, kicking and screaming the whole way.

(And everyone knew that that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.)

Still, Jean opened his mouth in a feeble attempt to try and persuade the younger Elric again, but before he even began, Al interrupted him.

"No. I'm not leaving Brother."

And it was at that moment that everyone in the office realized that the normally polite and level-headed Alphonse Elric could be just as stubborn as his older sibling.

The smoker simply blinked and shook his head a bit, smiling slightly. Havoc then returned his attention to his cards and Al became lost in his thoughts once more.

Scattered, throw-together plans of how to fix this mess, what to do once Ed woke up, and about a million other things buzzed around inside the fourteen year old's mind like an angry swarm of bees. Though, even through this clutter, Al could tell there was something _else _lurking in his thoughts. Like a neglected child, it tugged and pestered him incessantly until he was forced to acknowledge its presence.

Once Alphonse finally did, his thoughts turned traitorous as a voice—slick and sweet—whispered in his mind.

"_Think of it this way—now Ed's not completely human. He's imperfect, just like you."_

"_Maybe now… you won't feel so alone anymore."_

* * *

Some odd hours later, when the sun had sunk down in the sky and washed the normally bustling city in hues of brilliant orange and purple, Ed began to stir. Blinking his hazy eyes open slowly, the blond alchemist yawned widely and stretched out a bit. Then he rolled his shoulders and popped his neck.

_How long had he been asleep…?_

Scratching at his stomach irritably, Edward realized through the fog still clouding his mind that he should probably get up and go get something to eat instead of lazing around in bed all day. And so, he made to do just that.

It took Ed up until this moment to realize that something was wrong.

But what?

The blond stilled, and the last of the post-sleep haze cleared from his head as cold adrenalin began to pour into his veins.

"Brother? Did you sleep well?"

The words, sudden and unexpected, made Edward snap his head around so fast that his neck cracked. After realizing that it was just Al, the chimera relaxed a bit, though he didn't let his guard down completely.

After a moment he remembered that he had been asked a question, and Ed responded with a wary, "Yeah, I guess so…"

The armor nodded and said, "That's good."

_There… something's off._

The blond frowned and looked at Alphonse carefully. Although there was no visible expression being portrayed on the metal face, Ed could tell that something was bothering his younger brother. "You okay, Al?"

The fourteen year old started slightly before looking down at the chimera. There was a small, worried downward tilt to his lips and concern shown openly in his gold eyes.

At that moment Alphonse was sure that he was going to break down into laughter where a bitter, hollow kind of mirth would be expressed in his echoing voice. How many times had he seen that exact same look on his older brother's face? Such raw, genuine care…

It made his nonexistent heart pulse with a miserable kind of agony.

_Just how much pain were they expected to go through…?_

It was weird, simply put. If only for a moment, as he stared down at that face he knew all too well, Al was almost able to forget what had happened recently.

_Almost…_

But he couldn't. He couldn't forget, and he couldn't laugh, and he couldn't cry. He couldn't do those things anymore, not really.

And that was okay, to some extent.

Imagining his old face plastering on an overused fake smile, Alphonse answered, "Yeah, I'm fine Brother." After a moment he asked a question of his own, "What about you? Are you okay? Do you need anything?"

Appearing to let the subject drop for the moment, the blond appeared to think for a second before nodding and saying somewhat dreamily, "Yeah… some food. That would be nice."

A growl courtesy of Ed's stomach made itself known, then, and the fifteen year old poked at it and said, "Shut up. You'll get your food…"

Looking at his brother with something akin to a sad form of amusement, Al noticed something. The blond's cheeks were flushed lightly with rosy pink, and not from embarrassment.

Did he still have a fever?

Alphonse almost put his hand to the fifteen year old's forehead, but stopped himself before he did and instead asked, "Brother? Do you feel warm? I think you might have a fever."

Stopping his incessant prodding of his stomach, Edward considered for a moment before replying offhandedly, "Nah. I'm fine, Al."

A small spark of anger flared inside the younger Elric then, and he said, "You need to take better care of yourself, Brother! If you're not feeling good then you should just say so! What would happen if you just ignored something that was wrong because you were too stubborn to admit it and ended up getting hurt?"

The rest of the vehement rant was quieter, almost inaudible, "What would happen if you pushed yourself too far and I lost you…?"

Ed blinked up at the pained tone in his little brother's voice. After a moment he said, "You know I wouldn't do that..."

There was a tense silence that fell between the two after that. The quiet was only broken by the sound of a pen being set down on a desk.

For the second time since he had woken up, Edward's neck cracked from the speed at which he turned it. Only just now remembering where he was_—the bastard's office, of course!—_he scowled, wanting to be anywhere other than right here.

_But wait… how did he get here again?_

Colonel Mustang stood up from his desk and started walking toward the door, saying slyly as he did, "I'm going to get you some food, Fullmetal. Try not to trash my office before I get back."

And then he left, nodding to Hawkeye who was standing guard outside the door.

Ed just _glared_.

Still, despite the blond's outer appearance, he was kind of concerned. Why was he here in Mustang's office? How had he gotten here?

Hazy bits of broken memories floated in his mind's eye, but most of them were too distorted to even attempt to make any sense out of.

Then he remembered the feeling of wrongness that he had felt earlier.

An icy ball of dread formed in the pit of his empty stomach, and he slowly turned back toward his younger brother. Not sure whether or not he wanted to know the answer, Ed asked in the halting speech that Alphonse had been trying his hardest to ignore, "Al… what happened?"

* * *

**A/N: **So. Yeah. I'M EVIL. What else is new? 8D

*Cough* Yeah, uh, anyways. I really want to know what you guys think of this chapter. I think my writing style changed a bit, and I'd like to know what you think about it (and this chapter as a whole). Is it good? Is it bad? Does your heart feel like it's going to implode because of all of these _gosh darn_ _feelings? _

(But seriously, brotherly fluff was so totally worth it, right? Right? ...Right? *Is slapped with another fish*)

Also, isn't Ed just the most adorable thing you've ever seen in your life? *Huggles Ed*

Uh... yeah. It's really late right now (early?) so I think I'm gonna go and... yeah... LOOK AT ALL OF THAT DIALOGUE. LOOK AT IT. I AM SO PROUD OF MYSELF GYAAAAH.

*Cough gag choke*

...See you next time! *Flies off to work on chapter 10 and fix up some of the previous chappies*


End file.
